Has anyone been successful in getting an opportunity to cross train from stepdown/PCU into the ICU? I'm starting a acute care NP program in the Fall and I'm ready to move on. 3 years cardiac PCU experience. Any tips? Thanks.

I had a friend transition from M/S to ICU by reaching out to the ICU manager and offering to shadow a few shifts on her off time. It helped that she had a friend in the ICU to go to bat for her.

In California if you take a full-time job you can trained in ICU

Hey there! ACNP programs usually require ICU experience! I would contact the manager of the ICU and see if you can shadow shift, you can also talk to them at that time about bridging over. We bridge people over from our PCU every few months. TBH we are always looking for more Critical Care nurses. Also try contacting the ICU educator. Any ICU that you venture to is going to require you to do some up-training and then specialty units will require even more. So just prepare yourself for brain overload.
Congrats on getting into your program, and be persistent on upgrading to ICU.
Best wishes!

Yes. Having PCU experience gives you experience that is easy to build on for the ICU. PCU nurses are seen as a good prospect to ICU managers.

Get a position in a PCU and most are connected to the ICU as they generally are both considered critical care. With the current nursing shortage if you are in the pcu you would most likely float to ICU anyway.

Not Advised to start new job and work ducation