rndog

I am a PCICU nurse and would like to get a couple of good resource books. The unit I am in now is both PICU and PCICU but they will be separating in December. I've been told by a co-worker about a core curriculum in pediatric critical care but I'd like to have more suggestions if anyone can help me out.

Your attitude will not benefit you in the nursing profession my friend. Nobody wants to have a manager, a co-worker, or a nurse providing them care to be close minded and judgemental. And on the subject of Echo Heron, I agree that her books are well worth reading

Which program is the better of the two? Clinical experiences, pass rate, NCLEX pass rate,opinions from past grads, etc. Yeah, it'd be great to have a MSN but you don't need that to practice. Getting a strong basic nursing foundation and good clinical skills should be a priority.

UNC and Duke both have residency programs. Duke has notoriously not treated new grads very well but a new residency program that started this month will hopefully change that. I've heard really good things from new grads I know that work at UNC.

I work in a PICU that will put a MRSA + patient who is on contact isolation in the same room with other patients. So if the others weren't positive before, they will be before they leave. Plus, we culture for MRSA but don't implement contact isolation measures until the result is back. So why bother. Ridiculous.

I am a new grad (Dec 2007) who chose a position on a Peds ICU over one in an ED because I did an externship there last summer and absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, my orientation was a disaster. I had at least 10 different preceptors, worked predominantly nights (which is ok except that I was left alone more times than not), and my primary preceptor saw me as having been there last summer so had huge expectations as to what I should already know. I met with the nurse manager on 3 separate occasions to express my concerns but nothing changed. The experience was so bad that it really took a toll on my self confidence and I no longer want to work on the unit. After 9 years as a paramedic and a cop, self confidence had not been an issue for me until now. Now I'm off orientation and really regret my choice. I've stuck it out for over 5 months but I'm miserable. Can anyone suggest what I should do now?