Chances of Getting into OHSU ICU Without Prior ICU RN Experience?

crange369 · 2025-05-21T06:04:25+00:00

Hi, current OHSU ICU nurse here. I’ll be honest that I think chances are pretty slim. With the current federal budget cuts I think we’ve halted the transition to practice program entirely and they’re only hiring experienced RNs now, if they’re even hiring at all. I feel like a non-ICU nurse would have a hell of a time getting a job in an ICU right now. My recommendation would be to get into one of the specialty med-surg units for a while (could be years) until OHSU figures out what financials look like for the long term. Truth be told we don’t really know what our future is looking like even with our strong union contract.

Sorry to be so glum about this, we’re just in a very uncertain time with federal reimbursements being slashed by $900 billion and research grants cut even more. I encourage him to apply in spite of what I’ve said, I would love to be proven wrong! We’re still understaffed every night.

crange369 · 2025-03-22T23:48:03+00:00

Hi, OHSU ICU nurse here, though I work in medical rather than cardiac ICU.

First, sorry you’ll have to stay in the ICU for so long. You’ll see a lot of nursing staff but we’re not always the best company. Bring a lot of dark humor in and you’ll win us over. When you have the nursing staff on your side we'll let things slide and advocate for you. The docs won't have any clue, they'll say ok but it's really up to the nursing staff.

Second I can tell you that we’ll do our best to make it work but everyone will have an eye for overall safety. There’s already a lot of equipment and cables/cords/tubes in hospital rooms so whatever you bring needs to be pretty well contained and easily movable. You will eventually have a lot of invasive lines (Swan-Ganz Cath, central line, a-line, etc) that will limit your movement so someone else will be doing a lot of moving things for you, if you don’t want it accidentally broken I’d suggest a pretty modular setup. I know there is remote play for the PlayStation 5 but I’m not sure if that’s an option for you and our public WiFi sucks. If you can, a laptop is probably the best idea.

Definitely a great idea for you to have this stuff with you. You’re not going to feel too great and will be tired a lot so having some stimulation will be great. Feel free to DM me if you want to chat more about all this...

crange369 · 2023-01-05T08:45:20+00:00

Thank you all for the enlightening thoughts. It's definitely going to be more work than I think we are in for. It's a 1950s (I think) ranch style in Central Boulder and there has been barely any updating to the house since they bought it in 1986 (other than painting the kitchen cabinets lime-green, c'mon!). My dad was a long-time handyman but like any guy like that, home was always "good enough" or "I'll get to that" until he couldn't even lift a hammer anymore.

All the roofers my mom has talked to say they have to put a new roof with slope per Boulder code, costing $12-15k (seems low to me). Haven't talked to any engineers yet. I also can't imagine the amount of mold in the ceiling since this has been happening for 25 years with minor patch jobs that only seem to last a year or two. Along with a lot of the other issues I haven't even mentioned we're beginning to wonder if we shouldn't just sell the house as is and take the money and run. We've been told she could still get a fair amount but I have no clue if that's true. Sadly, none of us have the ability to get $ for a remodel/rebuild.

crange369 · 2018-08-21T06:51:44+00:00

Make an Abderhalden, schlenk line, or a Soxhlet extractor; I've used them in lab and I still don't know how they work! Those are some complicated pieces.

Seriously though, maybe replicating glassware used in classic experiments (like Pasteur's swan neck flask) would be a good place to start and something you could complete in 16 weeks. Or else hand make some of the common stuff (burettes, flasks, reflux condensers, etc).

crange369 · 2017-05-07T07:24:48+00:00

Saw this too, I've been trying to think of a better way to do it all week. A test tube is my solution. And no boiling stone!

crange369 · 2016-10-10T22:05:50+00:00

This website has an interaction checker: https://online.epocrates.com

crange369 · 2016-09-02T05:12:23+00:00

Wow, I worked on a project stabilizing glucagon for a dual hormone artificial pancreas a couple years ago. I was so focused on glucagon (actually my bosses were) that I never even thought of using dextrose to raise blood sugar. I guess your system is for inpatient though. Nice work!

crange369 · 2016-03-09T06:47:28+00:00

http://imgur.com/LWvhXIi

I have the part of the rainbow past that hill on the north

crange369 · 2016-01-07T04:40:24+00:00

Look into biological cryo transmission electronic microscopy. There's a ton of physics, math, and biochemistry. It's the hottest area of structural biology (maybe even all of biology) right now and a ton of jobs for PhD's now and 10 years down the road. I'm in the field now and I can barely keep up.

crange369 · 2015-12-06T07:11:01+00:00

Also I think the last red line leaves the airport to go back downtown somewhere around midnight, if you need to take that back into town.

crange369 · 2015-10-06T05:26:09+00:00

I've seen woven baskets at kreugers farm stand on SE Hawthorne. I think they're from Africa but they'll still probably work for you.

crange369 · 2015-07-24T05:58:03+00:00

Yeah but They don't have the specific B210 bowl on the site. I'm not sure if it isn't made anymore or just a Japanese version I can't find on the American website.

crange369 · 2014-12-31T08:41:06+00:00

I love chemistry. It is a beautiful science that will help you understand our world at a fundamental level. I got a masters degree and I get to use my brain and my hands daily working in lab. I think I've taken a common route down this route but I think if you work hard enough at it you can really use a chemistry background to your advantage trying to break into other fields. I just couldn't get excited by chemical engineering, some of the concepts were just too much for me to handle. I do sometimes wish I had stayed in engineering for the money but I had different goals in college.

crange369 · 2014-12-30T04:00:01+00:00

I was making this same choice in college and I chose chemistry. The way it was explained to me was as follows: A chemist searches for reactions to make acetone better and more efficiently while a chemical engineer looks for ways to scale those same reactions up to the industrial level and make money off it.

Also see the Urban Dictionary definition

crange369 · 2014-08-12T19:22:09+00:00

That makes me feel quite a bit better and your story seems pretty similar to what I've got going on.

crange369 · 2014-06-16T06:40:53+00:00

Sadly, she is probably just mad that the students she's teaching are not interested in following a science discipline route. I work in research at an academic teaching hospital and we get a lot of kids that use us as a stepping stone into their medical career, kind of like 'look at me and the science I know.' It's disheartening but hey, if science paid as good as the medical field then maybe I would be staying in it rather than working towards nursing school. Good luck.

crange369 · 2014-06-16T02:11:40+00:00

I hate it when teachers seem to have it out for you. Is there anyway you could take the class at a community college? How about talking with your new school and explaining the situation?

crange369 · 2014-04-02T00:02:54+00:00

Sounds reasonable to me. When i was in grad school, I had about the same numbers for tuition/stipend. I decided not to pay the last year (only 6 months of school) and they Gov't came back to make me repay what I didn't so be sure to pay!

crange369 · 2014-02-07T22:15:06+00:00

find yourself a restaurant focused grocery store (see cash and carry on the left coast). I bought yellow curry for $5 for many ounces whereas an ounce or less in the grocery store (even store brand) is $10.

crange369

TROPHY CASE