Missing opportunities to practice in ICU settings

I am writing this letter in regards to the article “New Graduates: A Precious Critical Care Resource” (October 2003:47–50). While I fully agree with the author’s analysis of the nursing shortage and how the shortage of new graduate nurses affects the work place, I believe that she has overlooked a major resource—experienced RNs. I have been practicing for 4 years and as I looked for a nursing position where I could be trained in intensive care unit (ICU) nursing, I found very little in the way of hospitals that were willing to train me. I have worked the last 18 months in an ICU step-down unit and moving up to ICU is where I had hoped to progress to next. However, I was limited to another step-down job. The title of the article gives rise to the notion that...