No, not a whole of touching the patients in the ICU. I mostly made it a point to try and round with the surgical attendings, and ask questions when appropriate. I poked in on a couple of RT's and asked questions as well. I wasn't concerned with hanging gtts, or doing hands-on procedures (they tell you you're not going to do any invasive procedures beyond your expanded scope cadaver lab). I really just wanted to gain an in-depth clinical base, and I felt the program did an excellent job with that.
The charge nurse in the CCU seemed to think that I was a brand new paramedic who had never done things such as push meds, or be part of the RRT; he dragged me down to a code in med/ surg that was nothing more than a seizure, and was excited to show off his EZ-IO. By the end of the day I'd had about enough of him, however the nurses under him were all sweet, and made it a habit not to abuse my "student" status. When asked why the CCU? My instructor said mainly to follow them to, and sit in on cath lab procedures. I didn't go to cath lab once, but I've seen enough caths placed for my own liking. The coolest part of my CCU day was sitting in on anesthesia doing TEE.
As far as the title they hold...//shrugs//...honestly, I couldn't tell you. Not being from around there meant that it was a whole new--yay, uber-humid Summers--experience for me. Everyone overall was welcoming, and courteous. The surgical attendings I rounded with were all helpful, willing to explain, and obviously knowledgeable. Like anything it is what you make of it and how you approach the experience.
I will say, if you're going to do their course, you're planning on doing clinicals there, and it's scheduled to end around June, make sure to either book hotel reservations early or plan on making a commute from an outlying part of the city/ county. The CWS added a bit of a pickle when trying to book a hotel for the week I was there.
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