New Grad RN Resident - Heart & Vascular Progressive Care ICU Pathway

Launch Your Nursing Career in Cleveland Clinic's Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute (HVTI)

Begin your nursing career in one of the nation's premier destinations for advanced cardiac, vascular, and thoracic care. As a new graduate nurse in HVTI Progressive Care, you'll build a strong clinical foundation while caring for some of the most complex cardiovascular patients outside of the intensive care unit. This high-acuity environment is designed to challenge, support, and prepare you for a successful career in critical care nursing.

Care for High-Acuity Cardiac Patients

You'll care for a diverse population of medically complex patients, including:

• Post-open heart surgery patients
• Heart and lung transplant recipients
• Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) patients
• Patients with advanced heart failure and other complex cardiovascular conditions

Experience a Higher Level of Progressive Care

HVTI Progressive Care is more than a traditional stepdown unit. You'll care for patients with rapidly changing conditions while developing expertise in advanced cardiac monitoring, complex medication drips, and specialized therapies. Working alongside an experienced multidisciplinary team, you'll strengthen your confidence, clinical judgment, and decision-making skills in a fast-paced, supportive environment.

Build the Skills for Critical Care

If your goal is to become an ICU nurse, HVTI Progressive Care provides an exceptional pathway. You'll gain valuable experience in:

• Advanced patient assessment and prioritization
• Clinical judgment and critical thinking
• Caring for unstable, high-acuity cardiac patients
• Advanced cardiac therapies, technology, and monitoring

Grow Your Career with Cleveland Clinic

At Cleveland Clinic, we believe exceptional critical care nurses are developed through strong clinical experiences. Many of our CVICU nurses begin their careers in HVTI Progressive Care, where they build the knowledge, confidence, and technical skills needed for long-term success.

This experience offers:

• A structured pathway toward critical care readiness
• Exposure to some of the most complex cardiac patients outside of the ICU
• Opportunities to transition into CVICU roles based on performance, experience, and organizational needs

If you're looking for more than your first nursing job—and want a career defined by purpose, challenge, and continuous growth—HVTI Progressive Care is where your journey begins.

A caregiver in this position works 7:00am-7:30pm or 7:00pm-7:30am. Rotating weekends and holidays.  

A caregiver who excels in this role will:  

• Participate in a residency core curriculum based on individual learning needs.  

• Provide direct nursing care alongside a success coach.  

• Establish and/or revise priorities for patient care (acuity of need, patient preference and resource availability).  

• Respond to data indicating risk to patients’ health and initiate action to correct, reduce or prevent risk.  

• Seek supervision, consultation and assistance when unable to perform safely and independently.  

• Document in patients’ medical records.  

Minimum qualifications for the ideal future caregiver include:  

• Graduate from an accredited school of professional nursing (ADN or BSN program) 

• Current state licensure as a Registered Nurse (RN)  

• Basic Life Support (BLS) certification through the American Heart Association (AHA) or American Red Cross   

• New graduate RN OR less than one year of RN work experience 

Preferred qualifications for the ideal future caregiver include: 

• Bachelor of science in nursing (BSN)