AliceMay

I know. Even though I've never worked in a cath lab, just having been a nurse made me nervous! But the cath wasnt as bad as expected.

WOW! 4 caths & 2 OHS! in such a short time period! I hope you're ok now. You weren't allowed to lift or pull for only 5 days afterwards? Then there were no restrictions?

Are there any nurses who have had heart caths? If so, how was it going back to work? How long did you wait from having the cath to going back to work? Any restrictions once you went back?

Yes, but what kind of time frame are we talking about here? 2 weeks? 2 months? Thanx!

How much time do you save by doing the walk-thru in Sacramento rather than mailing everything in? I'm wondering if the 500+ mile drive would be worth it? Also, how much time do you save by doing the live scan in CA rather than doing the fingerprint cards out of state? Anyone know?

I don't know if you're open to relocating, but seems like there are lots of new grad ICU opportunities in CA. Why don't you try looking there?

Seems like NICU rather than Med Surg is what everyone is saying would be better experience for adult ICU and CRNA. Would it matter though if the unit is a Step-Down to ICU? Does Step-Down = Med-Surg ?

That is so good to know. I was worried that working with babies and adults would be completely different that it would be hard to cross-train.

I appreciate all your replies. But my question was not whether Med-Surg was necessary before going into ICU. My question was since I cannot go to adult ICU first, should I start at NICU (which I think I'd like, but I'm afraid there will be less opportunities for me in the future) or go to Med-Surg which might give me a better foundation later on. (My ultimate goal is to go to CRNA school. Most CRNA schools want you to have adult ICU experience.)

I am a New Graduate nurse, and I was not able to find a job in an ICU. I plan to eventually go into a CRNA program, so I was hoping to work in ICU. Anyway, my options now are either NICU or Med-Surg. I think I'd be happier working in NICU, but I want to choose the option that will open up more doors for me in the future. Would NICU or Med-Surg be better for me down the road when I enter adult ICU and eventually CRNA school? What do you think?

After reading through postings on this site and browsing through CRNA school websites, it seems to me that NICU counts as ICU experience, although maybe not as strong as adult ICU experience would be. So I have some questions to CRNA/SRNA's who were first NICU nurses. 1. Did you find that your NICU experience made it harder for you to get accepted into CRNA school? 2. Did your NICU experience make it harder for you to keep up with the material taught in CRNA school? 3. If you can do it all over again, would you have chosen to work in adult ICU rather than NICU? Thank you!