I will be relocating to the Raleigh area this summer. What facility seems to be "the one to work for" as far as pay, morale, opportunities for advancement...etc.
Hey all,
I've been working in a medical ICU for almost a year. I'm eligible to take the CCRN exam. I've paid and set a date. However, now I'm having second thoughts on if I have enough time to study. So my questions are, how long did you study? How many years of iCU experience did you have?just to give some perspective on my test taking, I studied for my anCkEX about 5 days before I took the test. Any advice and perspective is welcomed. Thanks for reading.
I took my exam and passed it in January. I probably devoted a good 2 months of devoted study time. I actually purchased prep materials about a year prior. I have 5 years of ICU experience .
I think that most of the exam is made up of questions that most anyone with any ICU experience can answer. The exam was tough, but appropriately so. I focused much of my time of Cardiac since it is the biggest % of the exam (and my weakest area).
I used the Gasparis DVDs and Q&A book. I also listed to the Cammie House-Francher podcasts.
Good luck to you!!!
We have one LPN in our unit and that nurse has been there for well over 30 years. There hasn't been another one hired since. I think that it can sometimes it can be difficult to manage your own critical load of patients in addition to doing things that are out of the LPN's scope (drip titrations, blood, and NGTs). Some days it is manageable and others it is a near impossibility.
I took and passed the exam in January. Your prep materials are the same ones that I used. I also listened to the Cammie House-Francher podcasts.
The exam is difficult, but as an experienced ICU nurse, it is information that you should know. I was surprised that many of the questions I answered without hesitation and there were a few that were nearly verbatim from my Pass CCRN CDROM .
Good luck!
How often to you document assessments in your ICU? What is your charting like?
At my facility we chart full head to toe assessments every four hours, vitals qhour, etc.
Sometimes it is more often depending on the status of the patient.
Some nurses in my unit have tossed around the idea of doing a full head to toe with your first assessment and then making a note to chart changes for your other assessments.
I am just wondering how different facilities chart in their ICUs.
Your facility sounds similar to ours. We restrict visiting from 0630-0730 and 1830-1930. In Our ICU there are only 2 visitors per patient and no children under the age of 10.
We are currently in the process of revising our policies and attempting to make it better. The problem in our unit is that there is a constant influx of patient family members and visitors with total disregard for the nurses. The previous admin tended to side the the "customer" and it seemed like our ICU visiting policy wasn't utilized. When we could ask visitors to leave or adhere to the 2 person limit, they would get upset and "report" the nurse. It was extremely frustrating.
Now we have new admin and management. Apparently they are focused on family centered care and apparently studies have shown that patient morale (not to mention satisfaction scores) have improved with the initiation of the "support person" that is allowed to stay with the patient at all times. They are allowed to stay all night in the ICU as long as they aren't a creating a disturbance or preventing staff from properly caring for the patient. We are going to attempt to place visiting hours at certain times of the day/night. We are still in the early stages of planning. I'm hopeful that it will help.
SICU can be a scary place, especially for a new nurse.
We have had more than a few newbies come through our unit. Some have succeeded and others have not. The one constant that I have observed is that the ones that stay are usually bright individuals with a lot of self motivation. They are constantly asking questions and have a desire to learn. Good luck to you and don't be afraid to ask questions.
I stand corrected, when I went back to work I started inquiring as to whether the floor nurses had to have ACLS.
It is not required; they can schedule themselves for the class when it is offered, but priority is given to the ED, ICU, and cath lab nurses, etc.
BLS is required.
You say "naturally" like this is the norm. But it is not... All ICU nurses should have ACLS, the majority of step down RNs should, but I have never heard of med surg RNs having or being required to have ACLS. This is very strange and very much not the norm.
Really?
Honestly I never put much thought into it because as a new nurse (8 years ago) starting on a Med-Surg floor, I was required to have ACLS (as were all RNs) and all employees of the hospital had BLS training.
try to get the cammie House-Francher podcast. She lectures about the changes in core curriculum and she had a portion dedicated to behavioral.
The Pass CCRN is too detailed, I just used the CD for Q&A
I took mine on 1/18/13 and passed. The prep that you listed is just about what I used. I also had the Cammie Francher podcasts. I utilized my pass ccrn DVD a lot, I took the mock exams to prepare myself.
Don't worry, I'm sure you will be fine! Keep us posted!
Keep me posted, I'd like to know what you think of the facility once you settle in.
Hi all,
I will be relocating to the Raleigh area this summer. What facility seems to be "the one to work for" as far as pay, morale, opportunities for advancement...etc.
I'm a BSN CCRN with 9 years experience.
We get an extra $1.00/hr and our facility will reimburse you for the test fee if you pass.
I took my exam and passed it in January. I probably devoted a good 2 months of devoted study time. I actually purchased prep materials about a year prior. I have 5 years of ICU experience .
I think that most of the exam is made up of questions that most anyone with any ICU experience can answer. The exam was tough, but appropriately so. I focused much of my time of Cardiac since it is the biggest % of the exam (and my weakest area).
I used the Gasparis DVDs and Q&A book. I also listed to the Cammie House-Francher podcasts.
Good luck to you!!!
We have one LPN in our unit and that nurse has been there for well over 30 years. There hasn't been another one hired since. I think that it can sometimes it can be difficult to manage your own critical load of patients in addition to doing things that are out of the LPN's scope (drip titrations, blood, and NGTs). Some days it is manageable and others it is a near impossibility.
I took and passed the exam in January. Your prep materials are the same ones that I used. I also listened to the Cammie House-Francher podcasts.
The exam is difficult, but as an experienced ICU nurse, it is information that you should know. I was surprised that many of the questions I answered without hesitation and there were a few that were nearly verbatim from my Pass CCRN CDROM .
Good luck!
How often to you document assessments in your ICU? What is your charting like?
At my facility we chart full head to toe assessments every four hours, vitals qhour, etc.
Sometimes it is more often depending on the status of the patient.
Some nurses in my unit have tossed around the idea of doing a full head to toe with your first assessment and then making a note to chart changes for your other assessments.
I am just wondering how different facilities chart in their ICUs.
Thanks.
Your facility sounds similar to ours. We restrict visiting from 0630-0730 and 1830-1930. In Our ICU there are only 2 visitors per patient and no children under the age of 10.
We are currently in the process of revising our policies and attempting to make it better. The problem in our unit is that there is a constant influx of patient family members and visitors with total disregard for the nurses. The previous admin tended to side the the "customer" and it seemed like our ICU visiting policy wasn't utilized. When we could ask visitors to leave or adhere to the 2 person limit, they would get upset and "report" the nurse. It was extremely frustrating.
Now we have new admin and management. Apparently they are focused on family centered care and apparently studies have shown that patient morale (not to mention satisfaction scores) have improved with the initiation of the "support person" that is allowed to stay with the patient at all times. They are allowed to stay all night in the ICU as long as they aren't a creating a disturbance or preventing staff from properly caring for the patient. We are going to attempt to place visiting hours at certain times of the day/night. We are still in the early stages of planning. I'm hopeful that it will help.
SICU can be a scary place, especially for a new nurse.
We have had more than a few newbies come through our unit. Some have succeeded and others have not. The one constant that I have observed is that the ones that stay are usually bright individuals with a lot of self motivation. They are constantly asking questions and have a desire to learn. Good luck to you and don't be afraid to ask questions.
Wow...
The highest that I've seen was 49 units/hour.
What is the highest rate for an insulin gtt that you have come across?
I stand corrected, when I went back to work I started inquiring as to whether the floor nurses had to have ACLS.
It is not required; they can schedule themselves for the class when it is offered, but priority is given to the ED, ICU, and cath lab nurses, etc.
BLS is required.
Honestly I never put much thought into it because as a new nurse (8 years ago) starting on a Med-Surg floor, I was required to have ACLS (as were all RNs) and all employees of the hospital had BLS training.
try to get the cammie House-Francher podcast. She lectures about the changes in core curriculum and she had a portion dedicated to behavioral.
The Pass CCRN is too detailed, I just used the CD for Q&A
Good luck and keep us posted.
I took mine on 1/18/13 and passed. The prep that you listed is just about what I used. I also had the Cammie Francher podcasts. I utilized my pass ccrn DVD a lot, I took the mock exams to prepare myself.
Don't worry, I'm sure you will be fine! Keep us posted!
LN