Unsure if CCU is for me - advice for any ICU/NICU or outpatient nurses on whether to keep going!!

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello all,

I have just started in my hospital's CCU and I'm really struggling if this is for me.  Before I ever started nursing school I wanted to work in the NICU, every time I thought about it or even got close to the ICU it made me so excited.  I've always had the mindset of ICU nursing is "real nursing" (I know it's not actually) and I need to care for the sickest patients.  My goal has been NICU from the start but now I'm not so sure.

I worked Med/surg for a year and now after only 8 weeks of orientation on CCU I feel ready to quit.  My confidence has never been lower and my stress levels have never been higher.  I feel incredibly inadequate and my managers are recognizing this as well and I can tell they are worried for me to be off orientation in anther 8 weeks.  They have already asked me to back off for a few shifts and just follow my preceptor rather than taking both patients after I had a "delay in care" event with a vent.

I understand this is a really short time and I know I need to give it longer but I feel so lost.  Prior to applying for this CCU position I was really considering leaving bedside and going outpatient-the thought of possibly having a dayshift schedule with limited weekends and holidays, while working a less stressful job sounds so awesome to me; plus my husband and I are hoping to have kids next year and I want to be home more often.  (My current position is part-time for this reason.)  Of course if I go this route I would abandon my dream of NICU, because I feel if I can't handle an adult ICU then NICU is out of the question.

I'm going to give it at least until the end of orientation but I am so scared and I just feel like there's absolutely no way I am able to know all of this information to keep my patients safe.  I'm not sure if the stress is worth it. 

ICU/CCU/NICU nurses - is it worth it?  Should I force myself to push through?  Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?  Am I freaking out over nothing?

Outpatient nurses - is the grass actually greener over there?

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Specializes in Community Health, Med/Surg, ICU Stepdown.

I haven't done ICU, but have done step-down as well as outpatient. To me the grass is greener in outpatient, but it really depends on your interests, career and life goals, and mental health/personality/stress tolerance. I think 8 weeks is too soon to tell if ICU is for you. Critical care is a huge learning curve, but I'm sure your Med/Surg experience helps. Keep checking in with your preceptors, management, and educator on your progress and be open to feedback on how to improve. Don't be ashamed of what you don't know; you are new! 

If it is your dream you may regret leaving so quickly, but if your mental health is declining to the point that you know you need to quit, then quit. Your health comes first. Inpatient schedule can be good for kids because you don't work 5 days a week, but the long hours/nights/holidays/weekends can be tough for childcare and cause you to miss out on things with your kids. If you decide to stay after orientation you can always leave when you're ready for kids, and even a year of critical care is valuable experience no matter where you work next. Emergencies happen everywhere! I hope things get better for you and you can figure out what's best for you = ) 

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Specializes in NICU.
11 hours ago, pamalamadingdong said:

Of course if I go this route I would abandon my dream of NICU, because I feel if I can't handle an adult ICU then NICU is out of the question.

Adult ICU and NICU are truly different worlds. For the most part, NICU is a slower environment. There are days when I am very busy, but fortunately it is a team environment. Other nurses that have a slower assignment will step up and help me out. The same happens the other way around when I have a slower, easier assignment. NICU patients have about a dozen different conditions that you routinely see (prematurity, RDS, HIE, gut issues, heart issues, etc), You get comfortable caring for, the more times you have those types of patients. Very few of our patients are very high acuity. 

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23 hours ago, LibraNurse27 said:

I haven't done ICU, but have done step-down as well as outpatient. To me the grass is greener in outpatient, but it really depends on your interests, career and life goals, and mental health/personality/stress tolerance. I think 8 weeks is too soon to tell if ICU is for you. Critical care is a huge learning curve, but I'm sure your Med/Surg experience helps. Keep checking in with your preceptors, management, and educator on your progress and be open to feedback on how to improve. Don't be ashamed of what you don't know; you are new! 

If it is your dream you may regret leaving so quickly, but if your mental health is declining to the point that you know you need to quit, then quit. Your health comes first. Inpatient schedule can be good for kids because you don't work 5 days a week, but the long hours/nights/holidays/weekends can be tough for childcare and cause you to miss out on things with your kids. If you decide to stay after orientation you can always leave when you're ready for kids, and even a year of critical care is valuable experience no matter where you work next. Emergencies happen everywhere! I hope things get better for you and you can figure out what's best for you = ) 

Thank you!! I appreciate your input! Been thinking a lot about everything over the past week. I work the next 3 nights so we’ll see how it goes!

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17 hours ago, NICU Guy said:

Adult ICU and NICU are truly different worlds. For the most part, NICU is a slower environment. There are days when I am very busy, but fortunately it is a team environment. Other nurses that have a slower assignment will step up and help me out. The same happens the other way around when I have a slower, easier assignment. NICU patients have about a dozen different conditions that you routinely see (prematurity, RDS, HIE, gut issues, heart issues, etc), You get comfortable caring for, the more times you have those types of patients. Very few of our patients are very high acuity. 

Thank you for this info! So would you say it’s better to have experience in an adult ICU or somewhere like postpartum prior to transitioning to NICU?

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