Guest869155

You can definitely start in ICU as a new grad. I did and many of my coworkers did as well. My unit is 50/50 in terms of who started as a new grad in ICU vs people with med surg or intermediate/step down experience. You can't tell the difference in the quality of the nurse based on their path to the ICU. New ICU nurses struggle with the same things, no matter the experience. In some ways, the nurses with previous experience seem to struggle more as they have to learn a completely different form of nursing snd time management compared to working on the floor. It can be hard for floor nurses with years of experience to unlearn how they did things on the floor and how nursing is different in the ICU. It takes time, passion and dedication to learning to succeed in the ICU, no matter your previous experience. Don't let people try to push you away from ICU. If that's what you want to do, then go for it! My personal recommendation is to look for jobs at a place with a solid orientation and support for new grads. Major academic hospitals and trauma centers tend to hire a lot of new grads and often have good support systems for them. If you live near one, or are willing to relocate, I would look into those type of facilities.

I've worked as an ICU nurse in a major metro area trauma hospital, but recently have decided to look for a change. Radiology nursing has jumped out at me as a field that sounds very interesting. I ended up applying for some positions at various local hospitals and have an upcoming interview for an IR position. Any tips/suggestions for questions to ask in the interview? Also, for those who work in IR exclusively, what are some of the daily roles/tasks you do each day? I've interviewed for a more general radiology position with another facility but nurses in that facility float around to various radiology areas (including IR) vs being exclusively in IR. Thanks for any tips/advice!