Nursing student in need of advice

Jory, MSN, APRN, CNM · Sep 30, 2018

Hey fellow nurses!
I'm in my final year of nursing school and it's almost time to pick where I do my practicum. We are given the chance to pick our top 3 areas we are interested in and then paired with an RN to do an externship in that specialty.
I know that I'm interested in critical care because I am a thinker. I love to be challenged intellectually. The problem is, I suffer from an anxiety disorder so I'm worried that I might not be well suited for an ICU setting. I'm interested in NICU because I love babies but I also like being busy. Any other nurses out there who have an anxiety disorder and have been successful in ICU settings? I feel so discouraged right now because I don't know if I have what it takes to be successful anywhere because I fear my anxiety will hinder me from being a good nurse.
My ultimate goal is to get my NP one day as well. I'd love to hear from you all on your experiences or if you have any advice.
Thanks in advance!

Some nurses will tell you that you don't need to start on an ICU floor as a new grad. I disagree. Once you learn how to take care of the critically ill, everyone else is easy. You'll need to use critical thinking regardless of what area of nursing you go into.

The NICU is where i started my career and you spend very little time sitting around. Yes, you may be lucky some nights, but I have had two babies on a ventilator to hand me my rear trying to keep up.

I can't speak as to what to do about your anxiety disorder, but there is no shame in receiving treatment for it.

Morelaur288, BSN, RN · Sep 30, 2018

Thank you for your reply. I think my heart is definitely telling me NICU at this point. As far as treating my anxiety disorder, I have been looking into a good therapist but worry about taking medication that could make me drowsy, which a lot of anxiety medications do. Thanks again for your reply.

cleback · Oct 2, 2018

If you have anxiety, it might help you to get that med surg experience first so you aren't as overwhelmed going straight to icu as a new grad. Although I don't have a diagnosis, I get fairly anxious in new settings. There is no way I could have done icu as a new nurse. Now... maybe, but that's not my interest.

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · Oct 2, 2018

Thought this had posted but apparently not so here we go again.

You did post this. To see your posts: click your username and then "Activity"

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/nursing-student-in-1175434.html

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Oct 2, 2018

Keep in mind that while it could help, where you do your preceptorship isn't going to make or break your nursing career. Lots of nurses have gone into ICU and didn't do their preceptorship in critical care.

Also, like cleback said, if you're anxious about the ICU, you may want to get experience in less acute specialties first. It doesn't have to be med-surg, just something that isn't quite as intensive as critical care. Then you can transfer over to the ICU once you have accumulated experience and built up some confidence...and if you are still interested in the ICU. Most nurses don't start off in their dream specialties anyway, but work their way over to it.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Oct 2, 2018

What kind of NP do you want to be?

Sour Lemon · Oct 3, 2018

I haven't worked in ICU, but it seems like lots of new graduates have extreme problems with anxiety in med/surg, too ...at least, from what I constantly see on this site. A well run unit with "heart" for new nurses is probably your best bet, whatever sort of unit it happens to be.

Morelaur288, BSN, RN · Oct 3, 2018

Lol oh, sorry I'm still new and learning how to use this site

Morelaur288, BSN, RN · Oct 3, 2018

Yeah, my med surg rotation gave me so much anxiety but I didn't feel that way in ICU. The again, I've only had 3 ICU days so far. So it's hard to tell. I did a year of med surg first year of school. I hear med surg is great to get fundamental skills down but trying to juggle 5 patients at a time gives me anxiety just thinking about it.

Morelaur288, BSN, RN · Oct 3, 2018

As of now I'm thinking FNP

Coffee Nurse, BSN, RN · Oct 3, 2018

Are you taking steps to address your anxiety? Your first year or so out of school is going to be stressful in many ways whether you're in ICU or LTC, so it almost doesn't matter where you go.