destination : critical care

[irish-nurse]

hi all, i'm hoping to travel to the US, probably california soon to start working as an RN i have a year and a half experience on a med ward here in ireland but would like to move into critical care, i realise that the icu is very intimidating and was wondering if applying for a telemetry ward might be a good stepping stone. anyone any suggestions or comments? also how do i find out what hospitals specialise in what, i want to be sure i pick the right hospital where i can learn as much as possible!

[dlf2007]

I'm not sure about California, but here in Massachusetts there's many hospitals, including several world-renowned teaching hospitals where there are "med/surge/tele" floors. They are always more than willing to take on nurses especially with med/surg experience. My opinion: a tele floor will give you more confidence to move into ICU. I worked on a tele floor that was a "step down" unit with many vasoactive gtts which helped my confidence in going into ICU. goodl uck

[irish-nurse]

I'm not sure about California, but here in Massachusetts there's many hospitals, including several world-renowned teaching hospitals where there are "med/surge/tele" floors. They are always more than willing to take on nurses especially with med/surg experience. My opinion: a tele floor will give you more confidence to move into ICU. I worked on a tele floor that was a "step down" unit with many vasoactive gtts which helped my confidence in going into ICU. goodl uck

thanks will certainly keep it in mind, i'll get past the NCLEX first and worry about it then i suppose!!!