TaylorICU

I am relocating back to my home town of Atlanta, GA. I've been a registered nurse in another a state since 2012. I started in ICU and that's where I have been the whole time. I have a BSN and a CCRN, which I feel makes me pretty marketable as far as getting a job is concerned. My question is, does anyone know what the pay is like in Atlanta for nurses. Also am I going to be treated like a new nurse when I arrive, like have to work nightshift? Where I currently am new nurses (like fresh out of school) typically have to start out on nights. Does anyone know much about the attitudes and over culture is like in some of the Atl hospitals. Where I work now, there's a pretty positive vibe and we accept new people with open arms. The environment is also very conducive to learning, and of course if you can't figure it out on your own one of your fellow nurses is more than willing to help. I love my job I have now, but I'm stuck. I work weekend option to make more money, which I'm getting tired of. I have no interest in pursuing a management position. And going to grad school would take me further away from the bedside-which is what I like, not to mention the $30000 it would cost me.

Hey there! It blows my mind how many patient's you all take on a regular basis. I work on a MICU, and that's where I started out as a nurse. I have trained 2 nurses that came from med/surg settings that transferred to ICU. They certainly didn't struggle with patient load! We typically take 1-2 patients. But what both of these nurses struggled with was going from lack of autonomy to expected level of autonomy in the ICU. Example, we don't call the MD every time we need a fluid bolus...Another thing they found challenging was the increased amount of drugs that we give titrate and know. I never worked in any other type of environment than ICU, so many of the things that are second nature to me weren't to them. It wasn't that they weren't smart (they both are extremely smart) but there was definitely a lot to learn. If you want a head start on learning before you proceed I would suggest learning all of your vaso-active drugs. (Neo, Levo, Dobutamine- just to name a few) In the ICU we also do a lot of procedures at the bedside. This was difficult for the people coming from med/surg also. I hope that you find what you are looking for!

Where I work, we are allowed to titrate these drips but it is within an order set.