Oh My God! Serious Advice Pls! Med-surg Or Icu Job???

[Hebrews 13:5]

I graduate in May and have been offered three jobs;one in ICU and the others in a med-surge floor. I don't know what to do. I REALLY would love to go into ICU but don't feel quite ready right now...as in what i've learnt about ICU nursing...ICU is where i intend to specialize afterwards but just going in there as a new Grad scares me. No doubt I'm confident in my self and have maintained a 3.8 GPA up till now....Another part of me tells me to start off with med-surg and then move to ICU later on. Argh!! Infact one of the med-surg offers is from a place I did my med-surg II clinical and the director had been so very nice. She called HR and they got me officially in. I was just confused then, you know how you put in application here and there, i didn't know it would turn out to be this confusing. Has anyone been in this kind of situation before?? Pls help

[Hebrews 13:5]

Awesome. i would like to thank everyone for all their contributions. I really do apprecaite it!! No doubt, these various hints has got me thinking deeply...THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!

[KAW1962]

One more thing to consider. I have seen ICU nurses who have never worked anywhere else get pulled to a general med/surg floor and feel absolutely overwhelmed and drown because they have never had the experience of providing care for 5-8 patients at once. There is a huge difference caring for 2 or 3 critical patients and caring for 5-8, some of which actually should be in ICU!

[G'smommy]

I worked ICU straight out of school and loved it. I went to med/surge after a year and a half b/c I moved and now I hate nursing. In ICU you can be a good nurse. 2-3 patients and you know everything about them. On the floor you have a large patient load and you are lucky if you know what color they are at the end of the shift.

[pugmum]

There will always be two schools of thought. A major argument for med-surg is that nothing beats a year of med-surg to really consolidate your learning, integrate theory with practice, and develop the confidence in your assessment skills and ability to organize yourself and manage time. Its often during this first year that your really begin to develop and refine that sixth sense of knowing when something is 'not quite right' and putting the whole picture together.

There are a few hospitals that are well staffed enough to hire mentors for new grads in a critical care areas to nurture and develop new staff, but these are few and far between. The last hospital I worked at had mentorship lines for new grads in critical care areas, but it was the same old stuff...mentor in name only, in reality the mentor and new hire were used as staff due to the ongoing staff shortage. Some new hires were burned out before their time, questioning their career choices and stressed beyond belief.

You need to carefully evaluate yourself and the ICU program that is proposed for you. There is an advantage to working med-surg. If you definitely want to work ICU, take the job for year with the understanding that you will transfer to an ICU setting after this time. You may love med-surg or hate it, but go with the attitude that you are there to hone and refine your skills.

If you decide to go to ICU, ensure that the program is what you are expecting and all the supports you need are in place. Nothing is worse than being told what a wonderful orientation you will have, and so-and-so will be there to show you the ropes, introduce you to the unit gradually, etc. etc. Sorry, but been there and done that (and sold a crock of cr**) - make sure you talk to other nurses that have been there before!