New Graduates to Critical Care Area

[k_crandal]

I am graduating in May and will be going to work in a step down unit for a large hospital. I was just wondering if going to a critical care area right after graduation was a good idea or if I should try to work on a med surg floor for a year or so.

Thanks for the input :)

[Male Filipino Nurse]

i'm also a graduating student but from what i've been getting from my teachers is that if you really want to join a particular area then by all means go for it. they'll give you the training necessary to work under critical care. That's my personal opinion.

by the way, have you already taken your boards? If so, how was it? any particular questions that popped up and you didn't know the answers for? Give me some feedback because i'm taking my boards in about 2 weeks.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

If you're not interested in med-surg, go ahead and see if you can get into a critical care area, with good orientation and preceptorship.

[snowfreeze, BSN, RN]

Orientation and preceptors available are the keys here. Of course anyone can go into whatever field they want fresh from nursing school. Each department will decide if they want to finish a graduate student. Check on the staff who is already committed to that unit, then what is staffing usually? What is the nurse/patient ratio and how many call offs leave the unit short in each week? Most units are understaffed right now, if you really want to be there, then talk to the staff.

Stepdown units are usually very busy and have the same turnover of a med-surg unit if not higher. A stepdown unit is a wonderful critical care approach for a new nurse in my opinion if that is what you want. Don't let them toss you in on your own until you are ready though. In this short staffed time they will do that if you let them.

[Speculating]

I am graduating in May and will be going to work in a step down unit for a large hospital. I was just wondering if going to a critical care area right after graduation was a good idea or if I should try to work on a med surg floor for a year or so.

Thanks for the input :)

If that's what you want kid go get it. Look in Sunday's paper find a nice reputable hospital advertising jobs for new grad internship programs. Good luck!

[limabean]

I am graduating in May and will be going to work in a step down unit for a large hospital. I was just wondering if going to a critical care area right after graduation was a good idea or if I should try to work on a med surg floor for a year or so.

Thanks for the input :)

I graduated this past May, and I participated in a 6 month internship in critical care. It was definitely worthwhile. I learned a lot of skills I had not learned in nursing school. We were able to go to several different areas (med-surg, surgery, telemetry, and critical care progressively) to see what we liked. After all this, I personally did not feel that I had learned enough BASIC nursing skills in school to put myself in critical care. You have to learn about so much new equipment in ICU plus think critically and fast all the time. I decided to stay on a telemetry floor for awhile which has been a great decision thus far. However, many of the nurses in my internship program stayed in critical care and love it. Good luck!