Should You Start in a CVICU as a New Grad?

Start in a CVICU as a new grad? Why not! One of the exciting areas to start working as a nurse is in the Cardiac ICU. The cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit or CVICU is a hospital ward that caters to and cares for patients with ischemic heart disease and other severe heart conditions. 

Patients who suffered a heart attack and need close monitoring are also placed in this unit. The same goes for patients recovering from heart surgery and with other severe conditions like cardiomyopathy, arrhythmia, heart infection, or unstable angina. 

Most patients in the CVICU often have various complications such as respiratory failure and renal failure. Therefore, medical staff who work at CVICU are required to have the ability to practice systemic intensive care.

In this episode, we introduce you to one of our followers, James Hatano. James is a New grad nurse in the Cardiac ICU at a Trauma 1 hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.

He is also a certified CrossFit coach and a baseball coach. Today we will talk about his new grad experience as a Cardiac ICU nurse. So if you are interested to start in a CVICU as a new grad, this episode is for you. 

QUESTIONS FOR GUESTS:

The questions below are some we’d like to tackle. We go off-topic all the time so we don’t expect to hit them all. If you have any ideas please let us know. Looking forward to our conversation!

1. Your BSN is your second degree, you also have a degree in exercise physiology. What made you decide on exercise physiology and then what made you transition into nursing?
   • Are there some aspects of exercise physiology that have helped you in nursing school, being a nurse, and/or with life in general? 
   • How did you survive nursing school? What do you think was the key? Time management, good schedule, etc…?
2. Was the Cardiac ICU something you wanted to get into right off the bat? 
   • Why did you choose the Cardiac ICU? Do you fit the typical cardiac ICU stereotype? (craziest lives but neatest lines, control, OCD)
3. Biggest difference between nursing school and the ICU?
   • What’s something you wished you knew going into school?
   • What did you struggle with most in school? What do you struggle with most now?
   • Tips for nurses trying to join the ICU.
4. Nursing is stressful, we can agree that it is never going to change. No matter if there are appropriate ratios and great morale, working with patients that are very sick you’re always going to have that stress on your shoulders.
   • What do you do to help balance that stress, do you have any issue with not leaving it at work and bringing it home with you?
5. You’re big into fitness you’re even one of the top 50 fittest nurses in the world, how has that helped you through life?
   • How has fitness played a role in your life and how has it helped you with nursing?
   • How has your exercise changed over time?
6. The drive podcast by Peter Attia, what got you into it and why do you enjoy it, what do they talk about?
7. Chop wood, carry water book, would you recommend that book, why and/or to whom?

ENDING QUESTIONS:

Before we end the show we have one last question we like to ask all our guests. If you had the opportunity to have a Cup of coffee with anybody one last time, who would it be & why? 

You can find James on Instagram @jameshatano to know more about CVICU nursing.

You can also watch the full episode here 👇

TIME STAMPS:

00:00 Intro
00:45 Episode Introduction
01:33 About the guest
03:29 James Hatano and nursing
06:46 How does nursing school impact life
09:57 Transitioning out of nursing school
12:17 Life lessons you learned from being a CVICU nurse
13:51 Struggles as a new grad
20:03 Balancing Work and Life
22:15 Managing time
25:03 Managing relationship
30:32 How is it working with a female dominant profession
33:44 What would you like to improve in the healthcare system
37:00 A thing that you always have
39:47 The person outside nursing
43:52 Personal interests
46:34 Who would you want to have the one last cup of coffee?