Should I Work In ICU?

[PoweRNursing]

Hello Guys! I was wondering what kind of personality is required to be an ICU nurse? Some people have told me that they do not think I could make a good ICU nurse because I stress and like to analyze situations. Is this true? I am a very detail oriented person and like to think critically, but I am just worried that I would not be able to handle it. Are there some people that are just not meant to be in ICU even if they long for the experience?

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

Every area of nursing is not a good fit for every nurse. Try it if offered, you can always try something else if you don't like it. You are asking for advice here from people who don't know you from Adam, so we can't possibly give an accurate answer. As far as anxiety, all areas of nursing can be very stressful. Good luck, but I say give it a whirl

[PoweRNursing]

Thank you for your comment Hoosier_RN! Sounds like great advice. I am actually not even in nursing school yet, so maybe I will get a better idea once I get there in the Fall. Thanks again!

[lopezjeff]

On 11/11/2019 at 9:34 AM, PoweRNursing said:

Thank you for your comment Hoosier_RN! Sounds like great advice. I am actually not even in nursing school yet, so maybe I will get a better idea once I get there in the Fall. Thanks again!

You definitely won't know till you experience it and every unit is different. Culture wise, policy wise, etc. The list goes on and on.

I wanted to be an ER nurse when I went to nursing school. Now I'm a trauma ICU nurse. The beauty of it is there's many different areas of nursing that you can work in.

Good luck!

[PoweRNursing]

11 hours ago, lopezjeff said:

You definitely won't know till you experience it and every unit is different. Culture wise, policy wise, etc. The list goes on and on

Thanks for your comments lopezjeff! I definitely think that really immersing myself in all of the different units and rotations in nursing school will help me understand what I am comfortable with in terms of environment. I think that one thing that is really hard about ICU is that sometimes rules have to be broken to save your patient (getting medication even if it is not yet prescribed).