yes or no

You simply have no idea what you do NOT know. Trust me on this one. I was there once, with years of med-surg and other experience behind me. I was humbled and humiliated, appropriately so. Absolutely no sense of entitlement, no cockiness. Scared poopless. .

*** Our hospital has a 7 month long nurse residency program for new grads going into the ICU. It includes two months of three 12 hour shifts a week on one of the med-surg floors with a preceptor to gain time management and prioritization skills before they come up to start their clinicals in the ICU. I regularly serve as a preceptor to these new grads and they are great. I much prefer them to the stream of experienced med surg nurses I used to train. I find them easier to train, less "ya I already know that" attitude. In my view the biggest hindrance some of the med surg nurses have is their instinct to call a doctor or somebody else with an emergent problem rather that heading strait to the bedside to intervene RIGHT NOW. Usually our patients don't have time to wait while a doctor calls you back. We have protocols and standing order for nurses to interviene immediately without first seeking medical direction. It can be a big leap for some of them.

We stopped recruiting med-surg nurses. They are still considered on a case by case basis if they seek us out and apply.

thanks again for posting.....Ive taken everyone opinions into consideration and I decided to apply for the Burn/trauma stepdown unit. As long as I am working with burns I am okay.