1st day, feeling lost HELP!

I started in ICU a little over 2 years ago. I had been a nurse for about six years altogether at that time with most of my experience being in med-surg. I also felt completely lost the first day...and the second...and pretty much most of the first 6 months. However, you can not and will not learn everything in orientation and will be learning new things continuously. My med-surg background helped me immensly in time management, prioritizing, assessments, and recognizing medications. I just simply built onto this knowledge with new meds, diagnoses, assessments, and other ICU "stuff." One day on the unit is no where near long enough to decide if will work out or not. I absolutely love ICU and thrive on the fast pace and critical thinking required. It's challenging as well as rewarding to see some of the sickest patients who you'd thought would never make it, come back to visit months down the line to thank you. I feel it was a great choice for me as med-surg was beginning to get me burned out. Give it some time, ICU is a great place to work.

Read, Study, Read, Study. You aren't born knowing all of this stuff. Use your resources wisely. Get other sources of material. Sometimes teachers suck. Read other source's explanations of the same material. Sometimes if you are told in another way, it is easier to get it. IT'S HARD STUFF, there is no reason to feel stupid. You are taking initiative and educating yourself, and THAT, my friend is SMART!! Hang in there!! You'll get it. :)

Thanks to all of you that replied to this thread as its like i am in the same boat as jcurly since i am starting off in medsurg and i was not trained here.i am still in orientation.i'll be going to the floor to continue my orientation and i dont really know how things will work out for me.i pray to get a good preceptor that will lead me and not make my anxiety worse.

Once things settle down, you will find you know more than you think. The floor nursing experience will help you. One coworker asked if I had been a floor nurse before-I asked him how he could tell. He told me my pockets were packed with supplies and I was getting 1000 meds out of the PYXIS at 0900.

Thank you all so much for the advice and encouragement. Today was a much better day, even though I watched a man code. I actually received many complements to my already exisiting knowledge from my unit educator. I am not ready to throw in the towel yet. It is funny when I got off work today I got a voicemail from an old boss asking me if I would like a job, good thing she did not call yesterday:) Good luck azor with your new job and preceptors, I too have not yet met any preceptors but will tomorrow. Also to all of you that replied talking about educating myself, do you have any good reads or material that have helped you. Some of my difficulties are respiratory and circulatory, oh wait that seems to cover most everything eek!

Thanks again,

jcurlygirl

There are some stickies that suggest good ICU books and websites. My favorite is http://www.icufaqs.org.

well I'm a new grad who just started in ICU/CCU, so I can understand the "being lost" feeling. All the nurses say you'll feel like that for at least 6 months, if not 2 years. There's a nurse in our orientation group who was on oncology for a few decades, and she says it's like starting all over again also. So you're definitely not alone in it.

I keep my pharm book at the desk, as well as my Kathy White Fast Facts book, that's a great quick reference. And my Thelan's Critical Care textbook is in my backpack. To me, it's just being pro-active in your learning. If I'm helping out with a procedure, emergency intubation, code, etc. I'll jot things down, like new meds I see/hear, to look up later. And I'm always asking "why?" just like a kid. It's not enough to know "what" we do as ICU nurses. They always talk about critical thinking, and that means knowing why things are being done. Anyway, good luck to you. I love being an ICU nurse.

well I'm a new grad who just started in ICU/CCU, so I can understand the "being lost" feeling. All the nurses say you'll feel like that for at least 6 months, if not 2 years. There's a nurse in our orientation group who was on oncology for a few decades, and she says it's like starting all over again also. So you're definitely not alone in it.

I keep my pharm book at the desk, as well as my Kathy White Fast Facts book, that's a great quick reference. And my Thelan's Critical Care textbook is in my backpack. To me, it's just being pro-active in your learning. If I'm helping out with a procedure, emergency intubation, code, etc. I'll jot things down, like new meds I see/hear, to look up later. And I'm always asking "why?" just like a kid. It's not enough to know "what" we do as ICU nurses. They always talk about critical thinking, and that means knowing why things are being done. Anyway, good luck to you. I love being an ICU nurse.

I like the way you think. I just discovered Fast Facts too and I think it will be a great reference.

Just a side note...

It's the nurse that doesn't know he/she doesn't know that's scary... if ya catch my drift...