Open Heart Training

i got a notebook and a patient. Granted, I've been a nurse for 4+ years at that point and the notebook had pretty much all I needed to know as far as protocols and what values were okay and weren't. We have an awesome, super involved CV coordinator who stayed close the whole time and was always available to walk us through any problems we had. I did get classroom training, but mostly it was on the job which is great. I had been recovering surgical patients for awhile by then, including thoracic traumas and thoracotomies so a lot of the principles weren't new to me.

I don't think you will find any external training for hearts (I could be wrong) What i would do is keep offering your assistance on the fresh hearts and absorb as you go. I know that many nurses can be real possessive over their patients, and deny offers, but they all need help eventually with turns, or checking in blood products, etc. Show your enthusiasm and be a sponge.

They do open hearts at the facility but won't train their own staff to care for them......really? Shaking my head once again at the place where healthcare has landed.....sad. That blows my mind!

I agree. When money dictates patient care I think we all lose

We don't have a formalized program on our CVICU, but me and my other new grad co-worker, have been working on the CVICU for approx 2 months. We first have an observation day for the Post-Op CABG process. Then, our preceptorship and each of us take care of a fresh post-CABG pt. together, we actively assess and chart, alongside our preceptor. We do this process WELL over a few months, but also well before our first year is complete, before we ever take a CABG alone.

Even in a few months where we get to the point when we take CABG pt. alone we always utilize teamwork on our unit, so your never truly, alone. Plus we do 1-on-1 with fresh post-op CABGs.

We don't have a formalized program either. If you're a new grad on my unit, they stick you with a preceptor for three months. If you come with some prior nursing experience, you're with a preceptor for about two months. One of our CT surgeons who is incredibly sarcastic (but a wonderful doctor) made this statement: "Nursing should be like diving...start on the low dive and work your way up. Not here, though. We take them up to the high dive and push them off." That's essentially what it was like. Very much sink or swim, but it's very much dependent on the type of co-workers you have, too. We did start slow to begin with. We would start with POD #2 or 3 CABGs that needed pacing wires and chest tubes D/C'd and work from there. Once the charge nurses felt like you were ready, they would start throwing more and more open hearts at you. By the time I was done with orientation, I was getting one every single day that I worked. I highly suggest looking things up outside of work if you don't get formal classroom training.I think I filled two notebooks with information on critical gtts, vents, interpreting swan values. It's very much on the job learning, though. Good luck!