New Nurse! Need Critical Care advice!

[AutumnLeavesRN]

Hi everyone. I have been working in acute care for about 3 months now lol. I have been moved to an ICU-step down unit as of recent. There are a lot of different critical care elements that I really do not remember from school and the books I have don't cover that much. I found myself assisting in removing a sheath a couple of days ago and was told that I would be doing this myself and very often. I would like to know from experienced critical care nurses if there are any books that you would recommend that outline nursing skills in critical care??? A basic book that covers all of the elements of critical care plus nursing skills? I really want to have things covered before I am on my own on this unit. There are so many review books on critical care I don't know what to choose. Any assistance from current or former critical care nurses will be greatly appreciated. Anything from review books, videos, etc. would be helpful. Thank you for your time! :)

[Loque, BSN, RN]

I'm a new grad in critical care, and things that I usually read are the the policies and binders that we have on our floor (they are like cheat sheets for policies, drip rates, standards, protocols, etc). If you want to do some other outside of work reading, I thought that the Critical Care Nursing Made Easy (or something like that) book was good, plus I frequented icufaqs.org. Good luck, always ask questions and be curious, most nurses respect that, and don't feel comfortable around nurses that are too comfortable.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

PP is correct. You need to be familiar with all the P&P, which may differ from information that is published in other reference books. For instance, some hospitals limit nurse participation in sheath removal to applying pressure only, while others may 'credential' nurses to perform the whole thing.

Orientation to your new department should include familiarization with all the technology & protocols you will be using.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

PP is correct. You need to be familiar with all the P&P, which may differ from information that is published in other reference books. For instance, some hospitals limit nurse participation in sheath removal to applying pressure only, while others may 'credential' nurses to perform the whole thing.

Orientation to your new department should include familiarization with all the technology & protocols you will be using.

You betcha. And never do anything for the first time without having someone at least watch. You'll learn what is OK and what isn't that way, too. Mostly. :)