Nursing Orientation

The Intensive Care Service (ICS) provides a comprehensive supervised orientation program from experienced clinical educators. The orientation program is tailored to suit the learning needs of new and experienced critical care registered nurses.

Nurses with less than twelve months experience are employed into the Intensive Care Service Inductory Program. Nurses participating in this program are supernumerary for up to two to four weeks during their first rotation. This includes classroom sessions where the basic principles of intensive care are covered.

Graduate Nurses who come to the ICS for a rotation will also receive comprehensive classroom sessions, as well as supernumerary clinical support for a period up to two weeks.

Staff with Critical Care Experience are given two days orientation and three days supervised clinical support. This allows the staff to familiarize themselves with the equipment and routine of the unit, allowing the opportunity to cover any specific area.

Topics covered in Orientation will involve:

• Oxygen therapy
• Mechanical ventilation
• Physical assessment
• ECG interpretation
• Nursing care / documentation
• Bed space set up / monitoring and equipment
• CXR Interpretation
• Haemodynamic monitoring
• ICP / EVD Management
• Inotropes
• ABG Analyses
• Chest drain management
• Orientation to the ICS environment
• Introduction to the ICS educational and management team
• Education in the ICS Clinical Information systems
• Manual Handling