‼️New Grad Peds Cardiac ICU Nurse‼️

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Specializes in Pediatric Nurse.

I recently accepted a position in a nurse residency program at my dream children’s hospital and am SO excited! I’ll be starting in the cardiac intensive care unit after graduation/NCLEX.

I am looking for any advice on starting in the ICU. I have pediatric experience, but no ICU experience. What can I do over the Summer to prepare to kill it when I start on the floor?? I want to stand out!

I have to say I am intimidated. Cardiac is so complex, and this place is one of the top cardiac centers in the country. Is there a book I can buy for pediatric cardiac to study over the Summer?

?? ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED!! ??

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Critical Care.

Congratulations! As you said the world of cardiac is very complex and a bit daunting because there's so much to know! I had been a PICU nurse for about 4 years when I started ICU floating and the CICU was a whole other world and I had to learn a lot! One thing I will say, is don't expect to show up and know everything.

The best way to "stand out" is to be a great learner - prepare yourself to receive constructive criticism and feedback and make sure when you meet your preceptor (if they don't do this with you) that you discuss what kind of learner you are and how you learn best. The best way you can prepare in my opinion is to prepare yourself by starting to familiarize yourself with the defects/repairs and blood flow. That's really what is at the core of learning what these babies need and how to take care of them. When you walk into a shift and have a patient with a severe cardiac defect with a "normal" sat goal of 80%, you need to know exactly why that is and the signs that something is wrong may not be what you are used to. CICU nurses (as with all ICU nurses) pick up on changes QUICK, often times being the first ones to notice when a patient is starting to crash or something's not right. It can be very stressful at times, as CICUs have some of the highest acuity in the entire hospital. Just take one step at a time and know the learning curve is steep. There's a lot to know and no one expects you to be an expert right away!

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Specializes in Pediatric Nurse.

@amb218 THANK YOU!! This is AMAZING! One good thing is one of the big interview questions was how do you best learn, and I made sure I was honest. I will definitely communicate that again when it’s time.
I will definitely learn the defects again this Summer. Great example about the 80 sat, I will remember that!!

Any tips on how to prepare for constructive criticism? I’m thinking probably not, just something to get used to. I hate to say it but I sometimes take that stuff to heart and that is something I will begin to work on!!

THANK YOU

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Hi there,

Another poster has been asking a bunch of cardiac peds questions in different forums (general ICU, general cardiac, etc...)

Anyway, I wrote a handful of responses about peds cardiac physiology that you might find helpful. They're linked below, and you can scroll through the responses to find my posts; they're long, you won't miss them. You should definitely read the first forum ("O2 sat parameters") before the second ("bagging ETT"), since the first one informs the second. On the "bagging ETT" forum I wrote several responses, so make sure you read through all of the comments. The third ("RVOT") is unrelated to the first two.

I know it's overwhelming at first, but hang in there, it gets easier!

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Specializes in Pediatric Nurse.
1 hour ago, adventure_rn said:

Hi there,

Another poster has been asking a bunch of cardiac peds questions in different forums (general ICU, general cardiac, etc...)

Anyway, I wrote a handful of responses about peds cardiac physiology that you might find helpful. They're linked below, and you can scroll through the responses to find my posts; they're long, you won't miss them. You should definitely read the first forum ("O2 sat parameters") before the second ("bagging ETT"), since the first one informs the second. On the "bagging ETT" forum I wrote several responses, so make sure you read through all of the comments. The third ("RVOT") is unrelated to the first two.

I know it's overwhelming at first, but hang in there, it gets easier!

Thank you so much for this. I have become discouraged because no one really replies to my posts. I will give it a look!

2
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6 minutes ago, ForTheKids said:

Thank you so much for this. I have become discouraged because no one really replies to my posts. I will give it a look!

It stinks, because there aren't a ton of peds nurses who are active on this site, and there are even fewer peds cardiac. I'm happy to answer questions if you think of any.

1
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Specializes in Pediatrics, ICU.

PICU nurse here!

I started as a new grad in the PICU. We do PCICU patients and ECMO as well. The best part about it for me were all the new grad boot camps that we were required to attend. We did lots of education in addition to being out on the floor learning. I will say that things that were helpful for me in addition to orientation were a few apps and websites that helped. Even now I still use as refreshers.

If they offer Cardia STABLE at your hospital, take it. It's awesome. The regular STABLE course for that matter as well.

https://www.openpediatrics.org/ is one of my favorite websites to use as well. They also have Youtube videos specifically for peds cardiac patients.

There's an app call PICU essentials, I use it alot. It helps make sense of some of these diseases that I very rarely come across. You can also find more resources here. http://www.pedsccm.org/clinical-resources.php

Heartpedia is one of the coolest apps I have ever seen and it's very helpful for understanding what a normal heart should look like, what a CD heart looks like pre and post repair. https://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/patients/child/encyclopedia/heartpedia

Epocrates is also beneficial, mostly for drugs. You will need to know lots of different pressors and inotropes. Why you're using one drug v. another and what exactly they do for the heart.

At the end of the day being a stand out orientee is all about asking questions, recognizing when you need help, and speaking up when you feel you need something that will help you grow.

I wish you all the best. Let us know how it goes for you.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Pediatric Float, PICU, NICU.

I also want to add my experience at various pediatric facilities across the country has been that both the staff but especially the attending doctors are amazing with new grad nurses and or nurses new to peds cardiac world because they know how specialized it is - I've had many of them take the time without asking to draw me pictures of defects and explain things in detail so that I have an understanding.

Also heads up, don't be surprised if you get a handful per year of older patients 40s-60s.

1
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Specializes in Pediatric Nurse.
4 hours ago, MsKris_CarolinaGirl said:

PICU nurse here!

I started as a new grad in the PICU. We do PCICU patients and ECMO as well. The best part about it for me were all the new grad boot camps that we were required to attend. We did lots of education in addition to being out on the floor learning. I will say that things that were helpful for me in addition to orientation were a few apps and websites that helped. Even now I still use as refreshers.

If they offer Cardia STABLE at your hospital, take it. It's awesome. The regular STABLE course for that matter as well.

https://www.openpediatrics.org/ is one of my favorite websites to use as well. They also have Youtube videos specifically for peds cardiac patients.

There's an app call PICU essentials, I use it alot. It helps make sense of some of these diseases that I very rarely come across. You can also find more resources here. http://www.pedsccm.org/clinical-resources.php

Heartpedia is one of the coolest apps I have ever seen and it's very helpful for understanding what a normal heart should look like, what a CD heart looks like pre and post repair. https://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/patients/child/encyclopedia/heartpedia

Epocrates is also beneficial, mostly for drugs. You will need to know lots of different pressors and inotropes. Why you're using one drug v. another and what exactly they do for the heart.

At the end of the day being a stand out orientee is all about asking questions, recognizing when you need help, and speaking up when you feel you need something that will help you grow.

I wish you all the best. Let us know how it goes for you.

This is aaaamazing! ?? thank YOU for taking the time to do this! I will look into all of this and thank you for the tips!!

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Specializes in Pediatric Nurse.
4 hours ago, JadedCPN said:

I also want to add my experience at various pediatric facilities across the country has been that both the staff but especially the attending doctors are amazing with new grad nurses and or nurses new to peds cardiac world because they know how specialized it is - I've had many of them take the time without asking to draw me pictures of defects and explain things in detail so that I have an understanding.

Also heads up, don't be surprised if you get a handful per year of older patients 40s-60s.

WOW! no way, really?! So interesting. thank you for the reply! ?

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Specializes in Pediatrics, ICU.
On 5/5/2020 at 3:22 PM, ForTheKids said:

This is aaaamazing! ?? thank YOU for taking the time to do this! I will look into all of this and thank you for the tips!!

You're very welcome!

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