part time in ICU?

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I'm thinking of specialty hopping... again. Is this too big a leap?

My nursing experience has been a few years in peds- med/surg/trauma and homecare- and a few years in the OR. I've also been a regular float to mom-baby and med/surg.

I enjoy the OR and continue to work there on a per diem basis. I just don't enjoy it as a regular part-time job. I really do like doing some bedside nursing also.

I've been doing peds m/s as my 2nd job. Initially, when I took the position, my intent was to transfer into PICU after a while. I've always been interested in critical care, love learning about the sicker pts in the OR, etc. With my peds experience, PICU seemed like a more logical step than adult ICU but it's not going to happen.

My big problem is that I am not willing to work FT right now. Maybe for a couple months but not for long. I have a young child at home and she comes first.

Do you ever see nurses hired for part-time positions when they are new to ICU? How long do they typically need to be there full-time? I'm not saying I only want to work 8 hours/week but 40 is a little too much. I think 24 would be good. Is this at all possible? I'm starting to dread doing m/s until my child is ready for 1st grade but I'm not sure I want to work FT for a year before I may cut back on my hours.

BTW- I'm not really looking at ICU in either hospital I currently work in. I really dislike the hospital where I do peds and would rather not give up my per-diem status where I do OR (nice pay for that!) although that ICU is a possibility.

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I know that in the hospital I started at, they wouldn't allow anyone to work PT until they had been there for a year FT. The only exception was if you were an already experienced ICU nurse.

There is a huge learning curve in the ICU. There is a plethora of information to know and you have to be constantly exposed to multiple diagnoses, equipment and medications that aren't used regularly in any other part of the hospital.

Maybe if you found somewhere to work 12 hour shifts and you could do 3 a week. You could do 2 shifts in a row, take 2 days off then work 1 day and take 2 more days off. I don't know if that would work better for you than 3 in a row but it would be worth a try.

JMHO but I would guess you would be hard pressed to find a part time position just starting out in ICU.

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Specializes in ICU, OR.

Yes they orient people in the ICU to be part time, at least they did whee I worked. Just not new grads. If you are experienced somewhat, and willing to orient on a semi-FT basis, I don't think it would be a problem to be hired as PT.

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Specializes in ICU, M/S,Nurse Supervisor, CNS.

Every hospital I've worked at has required either previous ICU experience or working FT for at least 1 year before going PT. In fact, I've had two years ICU experience and 6 med-surg, but when I wanted to work in the cardiac ICU PT, they would not allow me to because of it being a specialty ICU. In retrospect, this was a good idea on that manager's part because her unit care for many IABPs, swans, and post cardiac surgery and was in the new heart hospital of a level one hospital, so I would have had a real challenge coming from a smaller general ICU that didn't have any IABPs or complicated cardiac cases and very limited Swans. There is a lot more to know in ICU than med-surg plus you have more autonomy, but need to know when to call the doc and when to utilize your standing orders to treat. Also, with you going from peds to adults, you have an even bigger challenge. Just consider all of this and your ability to transition and learn quickly before doing this; even if a manager was willing to let you work PT, consider your ability to be able to effectively function at that status. Also, because the training for ICU is usally FT, they may require you to work FT anyway.

One last note: I have a co-worker who had several years ICU experience and took one year off after having a child and now works per diem in the ICU. Even though she is experienced, she really struggles with any high acuity patients and spends a great deal of time getting organized to figure out how to plan her day to get her patients to their various tests or procedures, labs drawn, titrating drips, monitoring hemdynamics, etc. She is a very nice person and very smart, but lacks in the actual bedside care portion as far as getting things done on time and being able to know what actions she needs to take to solve fairly common problems.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ER.

One last note: I have a co-worker who had several years ICU experience and took one year off after having a child and now works per diem in the ICU. Even though she is experienced, she really struggles with any high acuity patients and spends a great deal of time getting organized to figure out how to plan her day to get her patients to their various tests or procedures, labs drawn, titrating drips, monitoring hemdynamics, etc. She is a very nice person and very smart, but lacks in the actual bedside care portion as far as getting things done on time and being able to know what actions she needs to take to solve fairly common problems.

This is a textbook example of nurses who choose to judge and criticize their peers instead of support and assist. Perhaps you may consider that your peer will require several months to regain her time management skills and... gasp... help her instead of pass judgment.

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I would just go ask the icu you would like to work at manager. Where I work, the will hire you, you would proly have to work fulltime for a month or two, then just go to part time. depends on how well you learn and how fast you pick things up.

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Specializes in 11 years oncology, 8 years ICU.

I was hired for part time and have worked part time for about 8 years now. I think previous experience might make the difference though (sounds like you have that) so think it's worth a try. We actually have many part timers that work in my unit.

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Specializes in ICU, M/S,Nurse Supervisor, CNS.
This is a textbook example of nurses who choose to judge and criticize their peers instead of support and assist. Perhaps you may consider that your peer will require several months to regain her time management skills and... gasp... help her instead of pass judgment.

To clarify, I do help this nurse whenever she asks me as do the rest of the staff. We are a very team oriented unit and support each other. My original message was not to bash this nurse, as I did say she is very intelligent and a wonderful person. Also, she has been working with us for about 2 years now and still struggles, so this "several months to regain her time management skills" is not the issue. How about we not pass judgement on things we don't know about.

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lovelylpn, I understand what you are saying. Ever since I no longer work full-time, I have lost some of the speed and "fluency" in my skills.

I don't know most of the doctors anymore. Most don't know me either, and I think surgeons prefer to work with nurses they know.

I am glad that I had 4 years of full-time experience in that unit before I went per diem because I have that experience to draw from to help me get through a busy day.

I would not recommend a part time ICU job without previous experience in ICU or a very closely related field like PACU.

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Specializes in ICU,CCU,MICU.

When I first started in ICU I was actually part time, I was FT at another hospital and wanted a slow transition. I eventually made it a swift transition because I found it too difficult. However I was juggling both jobs at the time. I felt that I needed to devote so much more time to learning ICU and needed those off days to educate myself and take educ. classes at work. Not to mention they put me through a 6 week critical care class monday thru thurs. with clinicals.

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