If you have the luxury of enabling students to complete one or more other respiratory placements then I feel that that is OK to delay their experience on ITU at under grad level. Unfortunately in the UK we do not have that luxury. Most students will only complete one respiratory placement prior to graduation. I understand the comment regarding only giving students ITU experience. Our students did a mix of ITU and surgical ward work. They often got to follow their ITU patients back to the ward as well as doing the basics. If the students were on a medical respiratory placement then they just worked on the medical wards (occasionally seeing some NIV).
It is very difficult to give students "ideal" experience prior to graduation. It is dependent on so many factors which are often beyond our control! In my experience the students all enjoyed ITU. We gave them sufficient support technically and emotionally and I never had a negative experience. Even the self confessed non lovers of respiratory enjoyed the placement!
The new grads often did need a lot of support on ITU but those who had experience at undergrad level were a lot more confident and needed less support to build up their competence.