PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Creating an Education Platform

March 2025

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Any views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and/or participants and do not necessarily reflect the views, policy, or position of Cath Lab Digest or HMP Global, their employees, and affiliates.

Caitlyn Nichols, BSN, RN, CCRN-CMC
Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island

@icunursingnotesbycaitlyn When I first started working in the ICU as a new graduate nurse in 2021, I struggled with the overwhelming transition from nursing school to real-world practice. You are learning how to be a nurse and, at the same time, learning how to care for critically ill patients. I was eager to learn, so, being a visual learner with a passion for creativity, I picked up a pen and started to draw challenging concepts (ie, pathophysiologic mechanisms, pulmonary artery catheters, ventilators, etc.) so that I could visualize them in a way that I could understand. I slowly began to learn the “what” and the “why” behind what I was seeing and, with the right support system/mentors, I developed strategies that helped me thrive in the coming years. My passion for nursing education, advancing our profession, and striving to make a positive impact in the healthcare field led me to develop my own creative note-taking business, ICUnursingnotesbycaitlyn, LLC — an educational platform designed to fill a need for visual learning resources for critical care nurses.

Nichols Figure 2 IABP I share my work on social media including Instagram (@icunursingnotesbycaitlyn) and Etsy (icunursingnotes.etsy.com). Most of my notes focus on cardiac critical care and the cath lab. Based on my own experience, I understand how challenging and intimidating the learning curve can feel as a new nurse, and our job is already hard enough. There is a lot of power and reward in looking back and helping others on the same path that you had to navigate.