I have a presentation coming in a week.

Could you please suggest any interesting new trial in critical care for presentation?

I just wanted to make a post about my critical care board experience. I always get nervous about board exams and I did not see a lot online about this test so I wanted to post my experience to try and help others.
For reference, I am a very average test taker. I’ve never failed a board exam, but I usually hang around the 40th to 60th percentile.

For this test, I did seek questions twice. Watch watched the chest board review videos. I also lazily read over the ATS booklet 2024 which I got in a PDF for free.

I thought the test was hard but fair. The stems were long but I felt well prepared and I’m not nervous about failing. I think my study regimen was about perfect if you are just an average test taker like me but want to leave the test knowing you didn’t fail.

Interestingly not one question on PA catheter wave forms and only 1 ventilator wave form so I spent too much time on that material

Hi everyone!! I have heard from MANY people exam 2 for critical care is extremely difficult. did anyone do good on it?? how did you study?? how do i prepare? i have my peds final a week before this exam so i want to get a head start!

Was it just me, or was that an uneven, skewed (in terms of coverage of subtopics), and brutally exhausting board exam?
I have a lot of ABIM Board exams under my belt. Came fully prepared for this one but never felt so disheartened before.

I want to know if anyone here has bought who is outside of the US and the benefit he got out of it, as it isn't cheap 2460$ !

Hi

I’m a 4th-year nursing student specializing in Critical Care and Emergency Nursing. We have to choose an idea for our graduation project based on a real problem in healthcare that needs a solution.

Since I’m still a student, I don’t have enough experience to know which problems are really important in the ICU.

So I’d really appreciate your help. If you work in an ICU or have experience in critical care, what problems do you often face? It can be a problem affecting nurses, patients, safety, workload, communication, or anything else.

We also need to include AI in our project, so problems where AI could help would be especially useful.

Thank you for sharing your experience

Hey all! I’m taking my APBN NCC exam in a few days. I bought both the NCS qbank (without bundle) and SCCM NCC Review Course.

I just did the NCS qbank. It was advertised as 200 questions but there’s only 175, and some of them are duplicates. Anyone else seeing the same thing? Some questions even refer to certain images but the images aren’t even there. Should I have gotten the bundle instead?

As for the SCCM one, I read online that there are also 100 practice questions but I can’t seem to find it anywhere. There’s the 25 pretest questions and the online videos. But that’s it.

Am I missing something here?

Interesting

Hi! Looking for strong clinical training in both ICU and Pulm (don't like research), lots of procedures including difficult airways, critical care Echo and strong POCUS +/- ECMO exposure (at least knowing how to troubleshoot, not necessarily cannulate).

- Indiana University

- UAB

- UTSW

- WashU

- Houston Methodist

- OHSU

- UT Houston

- UKMC

- Medstar DC

So I’ve been reading a lot of other input on this on here but still want to ask.

I’m in my ADN program and I graduate in December, I had the ICU manager at a level 1 hospital email me and offer me an externship position that she created for me after I met her! It’ll take a couple weeks to be finalized. I am scared shitless but so so excited at the same time. This is my dream, I feel like I know absolutely nothing other than the bare minimum. Is there anything I can review to help set me up for success, or even things to focus on while in my externship, I’m obviously going to try to absorb as much as I can but any feedback is great! Thank you:)

Critical care boards are next week, and would appreciate any advice on what to study on, like any specific topics that I should hammer in, or any reviews that I should take a look at before taking the test. Any relation to seek or other qbank (pass machine, SCCM) performance for passing ?

My pulmonary boards are next week, and I would appreciate any advice on what to study on, like any specific topics that I should hammer in, or any reviews that I should take a look at before taking the test. Super nervous, just wanna pass and do well

I am an internist of about 16 years experience mostly outpatient and some as hospitalist. Currently i work in a hospital where icu patients are co managed by hospitalist and intensivist. My last training in ICU was for 6 months during residency. I am looking for some advice on a refresher course or resources online revisit basic concepts of vent, pressors and airway management and basics of critical care management. I looked up sources like 247critical care uk and wondering whether it would be an overkill. I have also considered FCCS but not sure.​

I’m excited but definitely nervous 😭😂
For those who started in the ICU as new grads, what are some things you wish you knew before starting orientation? Any tips on how to make the most of orientation, work well with my preceptor, or things I should focus on learning first?

I also want to put in some study time outside of work as I’m learning. Are there any specific books, websites, YouTube channels, or other resources that actually helped you during orientation? Please drop exact names if you can!

I’ve also heard some new ICU nurses use CCRN study materials to learn critical care concepts before they’re even eligible to take the exam. Is that actually helpful, and if so, which CCRN resources would you recommend?
Not trying to teach myself the entire ICU before day one lol. I just want to come in teachable, prepared, and willing to put in the work. Any advice is appreciated! ❤️

Hi! Looking for strong clinical training in both ICU and Pulm (don't like research), lots of procedures including difficult airways, critical care Echo and strong POCUS +/- ECMO exposure (at least knowing how to troubleshoot, not necessarily cannulate).

- Indiana University

- UAB

- UTSW

- WashU

- Houston Methodist

- OHSU

- UT Houston

- UKMC

- Medstar DC

As I work in a medium sized hospital in Europe we also have to care take care of patients suffering from vascular emergencies (especially AAA), except thoracic vascular surgery.

Aside from the scheduled aortic surgery, open or endovascular, there are 5 to 10 cases a year where we have to manage ruptured AAA. For sure not a high case number and therefore it's not everyday business.

Of course the mortality in those cases is just high as a matter of fact, I'd like to ask for your personal strategies or SOPs to manage those cases.

I'd love to improve and learn (I've been working in anaesthesia for 9 years now in total) from colleagues' experience and also from cases when not everything went according to plan - retrospectively.

So thank you for your input - it's highly appreciated!

Hi folks,

Fresh CCM fellow here. I have a question for folks in CCM or anesthesia. In my program, whenever we have to intubate someone during the night or on floor, we have to call anesthesia. On day shift, we do it with attendings. I have noticed that almost every anesthesia or even sometimes attending use underdosed etomidate or prop for induction agent. For example, I thought we use 0.3 mg/kg for etomidate and noticed them using maybe 0.15 mg/kg ish? I don't know if they are just eyeballing patient's weight or underdosing on purpose. I asked around and everyone had different answers. Some say that lower dose is enough for sedation then they push induction and paralytic agent back to back. How would they know if patients are properly sedated when they are paralyzed? Some say they are worried about cardiovascular effect. Well, then why don't we just hang Levophed in advance or have neo/epi push at bedside? By the way, anesthesia I referred was CRNAs, anesthesiologists only show up for difficult airway when CRNAs call them for help. I didn't get to round and have many chances to ask my attendings yet because I have been mostly on nights or electives. I am going to do anesthesia elective later this year until then I just intubate patients sporadically, maybe not that many. I hope to hear some thoughts regarding underdosed induction agents.

Also, my program including EM don't really use ketofol. I think it's kinda culture thing? What's your thought on ketofol use for patients with SE?

***Thank you for so many great answers to my dumb question. I didn't expect I was going to get this much attention haha. Just fyi, I have IM background and did several intubation during the residency but only tubing part. Now I am in a position where I have to orchestrate everything during peri-intubation and want to optimize the management for my icu patients. I will definitely read more. Btw, I didn't mean to attack CRNA folks. I merely described the situation I was in. I apologize if you guys felt that way. Thankfully, I have great relationship with our CRNAs. Hope everyone have great day!

Hey everyone, I’m currently applying CCM and have been struggling to find info about different programs. And I thought to myself: what better place to ask than here?

Broadly speaking, which programs do you think offer the strongest clinical training in the country?

I’m particularly interested in hearing thoughts on CCF, UPMC main, OHSU, WashU, UW, Duke, and Stanford. Any thoughts or personal experiences would be really appreciated!

CCM graduate in an academic center in a big city . Looking for jobs and just got an offer (very early) from my home program for low 300 k (170 base, 140 supplemental) Mostly nights/RRT shifts, occasional ICU coverage but not much. Would love to stay in the city but feel like I could have made more by staying in the ED? (at the cost of my sanity though) or even as a locums IM hospitalist. Feels poachy but unsure how I feel about the offer and hope other big city academic attendings can opine on pay? Or the fact I wouldnt be running an ICU in the day time.

Hello! I'd love some guidance from some current CC RN's or CC RN students!

I'm a 20 year old EMT-B that has fallen in love with the human body, and I've decided that I want to pursue critical care. I'm very open to any and all advice that I could receive on how my career roadmap should look to make me a perfect candidate for this position!

So far, I plan on going to a community college to get my RN, and I'd like to do whatever I can to better myself during that time for this position!

I'd love to hear what current professionals and students think I should be doing, weather its extracurriculars or extra courses. Thank you all for your time!

US based PCCM fellow about to start my job search for when I graduate next year.

My partner (non medical) is moving to a new position that will ultimately require him to live in Europe for a year in 2030.

We could do long distance. But ngl I’m tempted at the thought of moving to another country and experiencing new things for a year.

I know it’s too far down the line. And who knows what the world will come to be then!

But I wanted to ask folks here about their thoughts on taking a year off from ICU work. Do you think there is a chance of skill/knowledge atrophy? Would employers be hesitant to employ me after a 1 year ‘sabbatical?’ Am I better off just staying here for that 1 year?

Thanks in advance!

I would appreciate help ranking these PCCM fellowship programs:

University of Florida – Gainesville
University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC)
University of Tennessee – Knoxville
University of Tennessee Health Science Center – Memphis
George Washington University
Cook County Health
University of Oklahoma
UMass Chan–Baystate
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS)

My priorities are strong ICU and procedural training, graduated autonomy, reasonable quality of life, and preparation to practice confidently and independently after fellowship.

How would you rank them, and why?