Cardiac Intensive Care Unit
The Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) is a key component of The Heart Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, and our highly skilled nursing staff participates as vital members of a dynamic interdisciplinary team.
The 15-bed unit is the only dedicated cardiac ICU for children in a five-state region, and provides state of the art, critical care for patients requiring surgical and / or medical intervention for congenital or acquired heart disease.
More than half of our patients are under one year of age at the time of initial admission and treatment, but we also provide critical care for children from birth through young adulthood who require interventions including cardiac ECMO, heart transplant, open or closed heart surgery, and cardioversion.
New graduates begin their internship working in the cardiac stepdown unit orienting with a preceptor, developing organizational skills and building confidence in their ability to care for cardiac patients and families.
Following this initial orientation period, the new graduate works independently on the stepdown unit for six to 12 weeks.
Following successful completion of this initial phase, the new graduate intern comes to the CICU and is assigned a tenured primary preceptor who will serve as a mentor and role model throughout orientation and beyond.
The intern follows the schedule of the preceptor, and with the preceptor moves from caring for one patient with basic critical care needs to providing holistic intensive care for the most complex cardiac patients.
Lectures, care conferences, interdisciplinary rounds and observational days in all areas of The Heart Center round out the new graduate's learning opportunities during the orientation period.
We are committed to preparing nurses who will be equipped to practice safe, family centered care in a respectful and stimulating environment.
After the new graduate intern successfully achieves the required competencies, they work as independent clinicians, but always have resource people readily available.
For more information about the graduate nurse internships at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, or to apply, please contact:
Nursing Recruitment and Retention Team
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
3333 Burnet Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45229-3039
513-636-0219
877-636-0219 (toll-free)
nurses4kids@cchmc.org
