SLH16

glad to know there are are 6 month ICU orientations out there for new grads! thanks for the responses!

thanks so much for the info so far! I would prefer a place near South Carolina, but please post anymore that you know of. Others may be wanting to know too.

I can find an ICU job with a 3-4 month orientation, but I wonder if this is long enough to feel comfortable in ICU. If I worked medsurg first, then transferred to ICU with hardly any orientation at all, if any...this would be even worse, right? Medsurg and ICU are so different. I guess I don't need a 12+ month internship/residency anyways.

anyone? has anyone here had or heard of long orientations in critical care for new ADN graduates?

It seems they all require you to have a BSN. I am currently in an ADN program. I have all the general eds for a BSN, just not those few extra classes required for a BSN. I REALLY want to go into ICU, and I don't want to go into MedSurg. I feel I will learn much better in a great and long (6months+) ICU internship straight out of school, than to go to MedSurg for a year, then get thrown into ICU with possibly only a few weeks of orientation or whatever. As I've heard MedSurg and ICU nursing can be so, so different. I've also heard that many prefer to orient new grads than those with medsurg experience because of "bad" habits they learned in medsurg. So..My question is, when I finish my ADN, should I just not work as an RN while getting my BSN? I see all of these internships are only for new grads. I don't believe it is fair or smart that all of these internships accept only BSN grads, when being a BSN grad is not a determining factor of how good of a nurse you will be compared to an ADN grad. It depends on the person. Thanks!