New Job Advice

nrcnurse · Jan 9, 2006

Hold on to your hat for a wild ride. There is SO much to learn on a cardiac floor. Depending on the size of your hospital, you may have separate floors for surgery, elctrophysiology and observation. On a float team, you will see all of this. Most of your pts have other problems in addition to their particular heart malady. Most often I see COPD and DM. You'll need to be very familiar with the common cardiac and htn meds. Also, be very familiar with the insulins. Most of the pts are elderly. Some are total care. Some are full codes when they should be DNRs. (Be up to date with your CPR and familiarize yourself with the code cart.) Everyone will be on tele, so you'll need to be familiar with reading EKG strips. Your hospital should put you through one or more courses on arrhythmias and reading EKGs. (I was never so glad to have excelled in the cardiac part of A&P.)

As a new grad, you may find the pool to be overwhelming. Pool nurses are expected to "know" everything. Make friends on all the floors to which you float so you'll have resources when you're stumped (and there will be a lot of that.) I'm in orientation week 9 of 12 on a cardiac floor as a day shift staff nurse. I learn at least 100 things every day. School only scratched the surface. I picked up a "Heart Disease for Dummies" book before I started.

Good luck!