New Grad-PICU

bennysmama · Jan 17, 2007

the PICU at HMC IS intense... The educators are good and you will learn a lot about PICU...

JDunRN71 · Jan 17, 2007

The outcome of this choice is totally up to u. Are u up for the challenge? Are there good mentors and educators available to u? Never be afraid to ask questions (no question is stupid, the only stupid question is the one not asked). I started my nursing career in CVICU and am glad I did. It was overwhelming and difficult but those experiences made me a better nurse. It will be what u make of it. Congrat's on coming this far and good luck in the challenges to come.

Shamira Aizza · Jan 17, 2007

Hi! I am going to be graduating from a BSN program in May and recently took a job in the PICU. Was this a bad idea? I was offered a job on both med-surg and the PICU, and I have always loved the PICU but some people have said it's better to work a couple of years of med surg before doing critical care. How true is this? I am going into a pretty intense PICU at Hershey Medical Center. Was this a bad choice? :monkeydance:

Not knowing you, it's hard to say if it was a bad choice.

BUT, I believe it's entirely appropriate for a new grad to specialize in something like PICU after graduating. The med-surg idea is a vestigal myth leftover from one of those historical cycles when there were more nurses than there were jobs.

HMC is in a great location, and I like teaching hospitals, but I worked there for a year and the veterans were not very "mentoring." If I lived again in Central PA, Lancaster General Womens and Babies (NICU) would be my first choice, or their Interventional Rad dept (surprisingly progressive cardiac services for a quasi-rural hospital). It is a trauma center (adult).