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Hey there. I'm a new grad who started in a CVICU about 8 moths ago. While I don't have neuro ICU experience, I did do my senior preceptorship in a Neuro ICU during school. These units are very different, but it will definitely help having ICU experience. As for some things to look at, I would suggest anything to do with hemodynamics and CV physiology. Start with things like PA/Swan catheters - learn your hemodynamic values for things like PA pressures, wedge pressure, etc if you don't know these already. Secondly, if you don't know your rhythms, brush up on these (although if you have ACLS you likely already know these). Other suggestions would be to research some common CVICU devices to at least familiarize yourself with them - IABP counterpulsation, LVADs (my institution uses HeartMate II, Heartware, and impella). Refreshing your mind on vasopressors and ionotropes would be beneficial too (dopamine, dobutamine, milrinone, levophed, etc) as these are very commonly used. This should provide you with a good start and you can adjust what you look at once you start. Also, coming from a Neuro background you are probably used to having the majority of your patients intubated and sedate. In CVICU you will be surprised at how normal and healthy some of the patients may seem at first (don't get me wrong, there are a lot of sickies, but you will have a lot of walkie-talkie type patients too). These patients may seem extremely stable, but at any time they are susceptible to coding. You will see a lot of codes in CVICU compared to Neuro ICU, where you mostly see withdrawal of care. Hope this helps and best of luck

I'm sorry, but this is not the reality at all and is actually somewhat of a joke. Either your perspective is totally skewed, or by chance, you just happen to know many of the few in this situation. The reality is that the majority of graduates of bachelor programs find themselves jobless or struggling to acquire meager jobs that were obtainable by high-school graduates in our parents day. Most college students today are all afraid of the same thing - how they are going to find employment that is able to get them out of their parents home and make a livable salary. You realize that without a graduate-level degree, the vast majority of college majors do not even qualify you to work in that field, at least not in any meaningful or lucrative sense by any means. Take for example almost every science/social science major - biology, psychology, sociology, etc. a bachelors degree in these fields is almost worthless from an employment perspective, especially with the thousands of graduates being pumped out every semester across the nation. The same is true for many other majors - communications, political science, classics, english, etc. the list just goes on. Most of these people end up eventually finding jobs in something like sales because there are no jobs in these fields at the bachelor level. The ones that don't either go back to waiting tables or go back to school in fields that allow for employment (eg nursing). Basically, the types of bachelor degrees you are describing are few and far between - only really engineering, computer science, finance (depending on school and connections), and a few others at most. Otherwise, nurses are better off then almost all other majors with commensurate education besides the few lucky ones with connections or that happened to catch a break with a decently paid job (again, this is a major minority). Stop complaining about your situation, honestly, with your attitude and outlook, you are lucky to have what you do. If you want to make more, go back to school to further your education (or if you really believe what you have posted, go and get a BS in finance and let us all know how that pans out 5 years from now).

I am baffled by the mentality of some of the posters here... Several posts ruminate on liability while others attempt to negate the validity of research merely because it is conducted outside of the US. Sorry to spoil the the chauvinistic beliefs of some of the people here, but please cite evidence supporting the assumption that the US is the epitome of empirical literature and medicine, and thus all research conducted out of its boarders is therefore automatically obsolete and inherently flawed. As for the purported liability - again, another hyped-up motif all too common in American culture. As stated, this is a valid alternative to the epi-pen, albeit, as the OP admitted, it has its drawbacks. That being said, due to the current price-gouging of the EpiPen, many will have to go without, and thus this method is definitely better than nothing at all. Moreover, the OP made a great point in that the prescriber will be responsible for any liability that might exist (if any) if a person were to inject the incorrect dose for example. /Rant

I'm a new nurse who has been working for ~3 months now in a CVICU. IMO, at least from a new grad perspective, being a nurse is a lot harder than nursing school. Although there's no exams, papers, and mandated studying, etc. I still have to "study" in a sense as nursing school doesn't prepare you for the complexity in an ICU - it basically just presents you with a generalized basic knowledge base. In addition, as a student in clinicals, you are not ultimately responsible for patient care. As a nurse, you are responsible for your patients, and any error you make has the potential to have fatal consequences. I can't speak about the floor, but in an ICU the level of critical thinking required transcends that required for NCLEX and nursing school - there's no multiple-choice options to choose from when something starts to change or go wrong with your patient, you have to think about 20 things at once, you have to know your patient's baseline for all pertinent data and note any changes and troubleshoot when said changes occur. Furthermore, there are many other things going on - you need time management, prioritization, the ability to communicate effectively and competently with other members of the healthcare team as well as families. I could go on all day, but at least for me personally, I feel like nursing school was just the basic foundation in order to start as a nurse and not kill someone on your first shift; after you graduate is when you actually learn to be a nurse. Finally, depending on your specialty area, there will be many things to learn. Not only are many new grads lacking basic nursing skills (even as simple as proficiently using the infusion pump, hanging IVs, drawing labs, etc), but there are many advanced devices and equipment that nursing school barely touches on. For example, on my unit, we see a lot of LVADs (HM II and impella), CVVH/CRRT, pacemakers, A-lines/central lines/swan-ganz catheters, ECMO, vents, etc. These devices just add to the already overwhelming amount of information you have to learn and skills you have to master.

Do whatever makes you feel better. I personally only wash when visibly soiled, after bathroom/eating, or perhaps when on precautions, otherwise it's hand sanitizer all the way. It takes a long time to wash effectively, and messing with water and drying is a lot more of a hassle than a simple squirt of sanitizer. From what I learned in school, the research shows they are equally effective (some sources actually site hand sanitizer as more effective) except when it comes to bacteria with endospores, such as c. diff.

Hello Love4Frenchies, Ultimately, it is up to you to weigh the pros and cons of each option. That being said, while I'm not an OT, I was originally planning to become one prior to obtaining my nursing degree. After shadowing an OT at a local pediatric center, I experienced similar feelings to yourself. While going back to school to take A&P, many of my classmates were pre-nursing students, which is what initially sparked my interest in researching the pro's and con's of nursing and OT. After looking into it, in my situation, nursing was clearly the better of the two. Basically, here are some of the things I took into consideration: 1) The salary for both careers is similar, but OT requires a terminal Master's degree whereas Nursing requires an Associate's or BSN. 2) With OT being a terminal Master's, you have little room for future career development and education. While there is a doctorate in OT, at this point there is literally no incentive to acquire one, unless you might be interested in education. In contrast, after getting a BSN, you have several different graduate degrees available (MSN/DNP/PhD) in a wide variety of nursing specialties (Various types of Nurse practitioners, Nurse anesthesia, Nurse education/research, etc). 3) While OT is a diverse career with many specialties, nursing is even more diverse, with even more areas and populations of practice. 4) While OT school requires a lot of knowledge of the sciences, from my brief time following an OT, it seems as though this knowledge is difficult to apply in practice. In nursing, your medical knowledge and critical thinking skills will be utilized on a daily basis, especially when working with volatile patients. 5) Not to get back onto the salary point again, but Nurses with advanced degrees have the potential to earn some pretty appealing triple-figure salaries. Not to mention an increased scope of practice. These are just some of the things I considered when making my decision. That being said, there are also other things to consider. For example, nurses often work in the hospital setting, which often demands working 12-hour shifts (your day is more like 13-15 hours). Secondly, you will be exposed to nasty things from time to time - feces, vomit, blood, infectious material, etc - basically any body fluid you can imagine. Depending on your specialty and area of employment, you will likely also have to deal with a fair amount of death - patients die every day, and some people deal with these things better than others. In addition to all I have mentioned, you will need to base your decision on your personal situation. This depends on your age, living situation, whether you have kids, if you can afford the cost of school and time of work, etc. I wish you luck in your decision. I know that for me personally, I am very satisfied in my decision to become a nurse.

I was also a psychology major and after graduating I was considering an MSW. I would caution you to do some research into MSW. It's true that the MSW is quite versatile but not as versatile as nursing. Also, the salary for MSW's is pretty sad, and it's essentially a terminal degree so you have little room to advance your paycheck. While nursing may only be a bachelors, there are many opportunities at the masters and doctorate level that can increase your income into triple figures.

Hey there, I a currently a BSN student hoping to become a NNP one day. I was just wondering if any current NNPs could provide some insight into the current job market for NNPs. How easy is it to find a job in an acute care setting as a new-grad NNP? Thanks in advance for any insight.

Hey smqzo, I am currently a student in the ABSN program at MUSC. Don't get too discouraged about your stats, I got accepted with a comparable GPA (albeit as an alternate initially). Best of luck with the Fall cycle, but if you don't get in definitely shoot for the Spring semester as there are typically fewer applicants. As for how to improve your chances, I would recommend trying to work as a PCT/CNA if you can. To do this, you may need to take a short course at a technical college and pass the state exam or if you have a bachelors you may be able to apply for a position directly at some places (eg. MUSC). The best thing about doing this is not only will it help prepare you for skills lab/clinicals in nursing school, but it will also augment your application nicely. Other advice would be to make sure that all non-grade-related aspects of your application are of a high quality. Make sure you do the essay well and do not exceed the word limit; make sure you have good references; make sure you have a good resume. Beyond that just hope for the best and don't give up. If you make the alternate list don't be discouraged because they tend to go through quite a few people on the list. I would also recommend calling in a little while after you hear that alternates are being called on (if you make it on the list), as this is what I did and a day later I got the phone call offering me a position. Best of luck.