For lack of a more eloquent title,
I’ve worked in the cardiac ICU x1 year. I love it for the most part. A few things I LOVE: my coworkers/bosses, my unit’s teamwork approach, the flexibility of 3 12-hour shifts, learning something new every day, watching once critically ill patients get better, and staffing ratios (almost always 1:1 or 1:2).
A few things I HATE: rotating shifts and death. I HATE working night shift and constantly feeling exhausted whether I sleep for 4 hours or 12 hours, and being expected to provide excellent care to very sick patients. I HATE when patients die. I am very much aware that this is “part of the job,” but it is very emotionally taxing on me and, as of lately, I am having a difficult time processing how I am expected to clean the body of someone who has just expired, then eat my lunch 5 minutes later like nothing happened.
I have been in therapy for a little over a month for this and other issues, and I feel like it is helping. However, I’m not sure how long I can work in this specialty without it taking a toll on my emotional health or if I’m cut out for critical care nursing.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.