New Grad in the ICU, words of wisdom from the pro's please! :)

Home Health Columnist / Guide · May 4, 2011

Great website that has down to earth easily understood ICU readings is www.icufaqs.org

Read one chapter each week and it will help ease your transition... along with reading info in our ICU forums found under yellow Specialty tab above.

Best wishes.

CVmursenary · May 4, 2011

Cardiac Surgery Essentials for Critical Care Nurses is a great book written by nurses and is pretty easy to understand for a newbie, i read it and i'm still in school but i would recommend getting it.

resumecpr · May 4, 2011

We have a "bible" here by Kathy White. A great reference tool.

Remember, teamwork will get you through a crappy shift.

Don't take it personally when a doc wags his/her finger at you and screams at the top of their lungs.

Finally, "You don't know what you don't know."

Congratulations and best wishes for a successful career!!

nurse.sandi · May 4, 2011

I worked in a teaching hospital and there were a lot of new grads in the ICU/IICU. You mostly likely will be taught everything you need to know, esp. in a 6 month orientation. Good luck and have fun. ICU is either fast and furious or slow and boring.

2011NursingStudent · May 4, 2011

I have no insight, but congratulations!!!!!!

SHURN · May 4, 2011

Just stick with it! You are getting an awesome orientation, so get the most out of it that you can. I started as a new grad in and ICU, had 6 months orientation. Will you be day or night shift? If it is nights, you might not get a lot of "fresh" hears - meaning directly post op, but you would see em after they have settled a few hours and are more "stable." After year in our general ICU, I trained into our CVICU. I loved it! You will learn so much - you will be overwhelmed. STUDY after work. One day it will "click" and it's the best feeling.

I had many moments of severe anxiety (not a work), thinking "what did I do to myself?!" by choosing such a hard specialty right out the door. But, that healthy dose of self awareness and the attitude that I knew I had a lot to learn (and still do- it never stops) ended up helping me.

Basically, you will have moments of excitement, energy, awe, and regret. Just go along for the ride and soak up everything you can!

Congrats!

turquoisefire · May 4, 2011

I'm not currently a nurse (still pre-nursing) so I can't say anything from a personal prospective, but I watch a youtube blog (NurseNacole) and at one point she really recommended a book called The ICU Book by Paul Marino. She worked as a nurse tech and evidently a lot of nurses on the ICU floor really recommended using this book.

Like I said, don't know how it is personally, but you might want to check it out and see if it would work for you. Below is the link to Amazon's page for the product so you can get more information. They also have a "look inside" feature so you can check out a few pages.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/078174802X/ref=oss_product

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · May 4, 2011

Congratulations.

My advice: take very good care of yourself. Get lots of rest, take your vitamins, get your flu shot. You don't want to miss even one day of orientation because you are going to need every single minute of it. You can't spare any sick time.

Second: there will be nights that you don't sleep well because you're so anxious about what the next day will hold. It's okay, this is just part of it. There will be days you dread going to work, and others where you can't wait to get there. Some days you will just survive the day and will collapse in the tub in tears when you get home. Other days you will shine and even surprise yourself. Respect your preceptors even if you really don't. Most of them will be great and so experienced and knowledgeable. Be the polite one-someday you will need their help when you are on your own and one of your patients is crashing. That's when they will come to your rescue, handle your other patient if you have one, etc. If you have come in as an obnoxious know it all, you'll get minimal help later on down the line when you really need it. ICU nursing is truly a group effort, and when a unit works together it benefits everyone.

You are so very fortunate to be selected for this internship. It will be the "gold star" on your resume.

Angels_wearScrubs · May 4, 2011

Will you be day or night shift? If it is nights, you might not get a lot of "fresh" hears - meaning directly post op, but you would see em after they have settled a few hours and are more "stable." After year in our general ICU, I trained into our CVICU. I loved it! You will learn so much - you will be overwhelmed. STUDY after work. One day it will "click" and it's the best feeling.

I will orient on days first, then transition to nights, then be working nights. I know nights are busy as well, but not as busy as hot off the grill fresh hearts lol

Thanks for the encouragement!

Angels_wearScrubs · May 4, 2011

Congratulations.
Second: there will be nights that you don't sleep well because you're so anxious about what the next day will hold. It's okay, this is just part of it. There will be days you dread going to work, and others where you can't wait to get there. Some days you will just survive the day and will collapse in the tub in tears when you get home. Other days you will shine and even surprise yourself. Respect your preceptors even if you really don't. Most of them will be great and so experienced and knowledgeable. Be the polite one-someday you will need their help when you are on your own and one of your patients is crashing. That's when they will come to your rescue, handle your other patient if you have one, etc. If you have come in as an obnoxious know it all, you'll get minimal help later on down the line when you really need it. ICU nursing is truly a group effort, and when a unit works together it benefits everyone.

Awesome pearls of wisdon, THANK you!! :heartbeat