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Crit Care Nurse 2004 Feb; 24(1): 12
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Letters to the Editor

Missing opportunities to practice in ICU settings

I am writing this letter in regards to the article "New Graduates: A Precious Critical Care Resource" (October 2003:47–50). While I fully agree with the author’s analysis of the nursing shortage and how the shortage of new graduate nurses affects the work place, I believe that she has overlooked a major resource—experienced RNs. I have been practicing for 4 years and as I looked for a nursing position where I could be trained in intensive care unit (ICU) nursing, I found very little in the way of hospitals that were willing to train me. I have worked the last 18 months in an ICU step-down unit and moving up to ICU is where I had hoped to progress to next. However, I was limited to another step-down job. The title of the article gives rise to the notion that new graduates are the main resource for ICUs to recruit new staff, but I feel that as a new graduate, I had no place in the ICU and now, as a nurse with 4 years experience, I cannot find a hospital that will train me.

Michael Loyd, RN, BSN
 Modesto, Calif

 

The author responds

Lynn Wieck, RN, PhD, President of the Texas Nurses Association and CEO of Management Solutions for Health-care wrote that the major challenge for today’s nurses is to be attractive to the younger generation."1 Nurses with 4 years of experience, such as this author of the letter to the Editor, represent the new generation of nurses. Wieck describes this group as desiring expanded opportunities and smooth transitions from one practice area to the other in order to expand their skills and receive recognition for their work. I completely agree that these nurses should be offered the positions they desire in critical care, and also recognize that many health-care institutions should (and I believe that most do) welcome these new nurses with open arms, especially in view of the vast numbers of staff nurse vacancies in many ICUs today. However, it is important that these new recruits receive a comprehensive orientation based on an objective competency assessment, which will prepare them adequately for their new critical care positions.

Reference

  1. Wieck K. Faculty for the millennium: changes needed to attract the emerging workforce into nursing. J Nurs Educ . 2003;42:151–158.[Medline]
Ainslie T. Nibert, RN, PhD
 Houston, Tex





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