Job hunt updates

Well it's official. I'm soon to be an Adult ICU RN. This is a place that I never saw myself working, but I have a serious need for adventure, and something tells me that I'm in for it LOL. Particularly everyone who's ever worked adult ICU ;) Lots of people are giving me looks like I'm totally nuts and telling me: you do realize this is different, right? Um, yeah? I think so? That's why I'm changing ;) OTOH, I do know that there's a lot to this job that I really can't anticipate right now. As my friend Mary reminded me, there's entire classifications of drugs that I haven't encountered since nursing school, which for me was 1995.

So I'm up for the adventure, but I have a healthy dose of fear and anticipation. I've heard that this unit in particular has a good reputation for teamwork and that's a huge plus.

I also get to keep my current clinical ladder level and pay. When I went from NICU to PICU years ago I had to drop ladder level and pay, but I was also changing jobs and going through an entire internship, so I was OK with that. It wasn't a huge drop, but I wasn't prepared to lose anything this time around since I am the sole financial support for a family of 5. Yes, I am Tom's sugar mama during law school ;)

Things I need to do before starting my new job:
1. Get new scrubs. Something tells me the overdoses won't care for my Hello Kitty scrub tops.
2. Get new shoes. I have a feeling I'm going to be doing a LOT more running.
3. Get a stethoscope. Yep, I've been an RN for almost 11 years and I've never owned a nice one. That's a great part of being in NICU/PICU - they are always provided. I have an email in to my new manager to see if I need one and what I'll need, but something tells me that they won't be provided.
4. Find some sort of a drug reference book. I'll be giving a lot of meds that I haven't seen in 11 years, and a lot that I've never seen. Could get interesting!
5. Update the PDA. I haven't used it since I moved. That's sad, because I had some really cool pics on it that I lost when the battery totally died.