[lolale]

Simple question. Tell me your reasons why you love being a pediatric nurse. Thanks!

[jlouden_rn]

I'm a new nurse, only been working for a little over 2 months on a small Pediatric unit. I love Peds because I enjoy taking care of a baby as young as 4 days old to an adolescent as old as 17 and everything in between. My favorite age groups are newborn/infant, toddler, and preschoolers. So, I typically get "my fill" each day at work. It's the joy of seeing them go from sick to well - I find it far more fulfilling than doing the same for an adult. Most days, I leave work feeling satisfied with the work I've done and the children I've encountered. I originally didn't expect to work in Peds, but I certainly don't regret my choice.

[HipsterNurse]

because babies can't talk back to you, you can hold them down, and force them to take medications, and they are just so adorable and huggable... well that's why i like to work with the babies most of all... haha... but i love peds =)

[BSNDec06]

I enjoy most of my kiddos, even when they are giving me a hard time. Most kids are not jaded in the way that adults are, and I find their innocence refreshing. You can't sit and talk to most adults about the new Transformers movie or spend a few minutes playing Barbie, but I get to do stuff like that all the time.

I also like working with parents. I like teaching them how to care for their children upon discharge and seeing the look on their faces when they learn a new skill or become more knowledgeable about their child's illness. Some of our parents are awesome, and I feel that I am learning how to be a better mom someday from them.

[nyapa]

Cuddles! Gaining the trust of a frightened child. Watching them get better. Or caring for disabled children who smile and laugh through their difficulties. Watching a little boy who'd had major surgery run around in a couple of days with something that would lay an adult up for a week! Have them teach me about computers! (We have a Captain Starlight thingy which has a dvd, nintendo and computer games all connected to a keyboard and I am totally bamboozled by it).

[StressedOutNurse85]

I love seeing my patients go from sick to well. I love getting close to our hem/onc kids (and their families) who come in regularly for treatments and learn each of their unique personalities. I'm amazed at how strong willed kids are when they are sick compared to that of an adult. I also love the fact that I don't have to break my back every night at work Oh and as we all know..."Kids say the darndest things."

Brittany

[EmilyUSFRN]

I love that I get such a wide variety of pathological processes in all kinds of age groups... so i get to become "good" at everything, from burns to trauma to respiratory issues

I love that I can watch a sick child bounce right back to wellness relatively quickly

I love that I am able to have fun at work and amidst treatments and medications, and read a bedtime story or chart while watching shrek waiting for my pt to fall asleep.

That whiny kids are way easier to deal with than whiny adults, and the poops and pukes are smaller.

That I can wear cartoon scrubs and not feel silly, but instead have an at length conversation about spongebob and mickey.

That I can truly help parents that might be still learning the ropes of parenting and guiding them on basic childcare and caring for a sick child.

[musee]

how I wish, I can feel the same...i just started my training in a pediatric ward here in our country...it was my first day of exposure in a hospital as well, and I was overwhelmed by the number of patients, the regular staff was only three composed of 1 senior nurse, one nurse staff, one nursing aid, and the three of us trainees, which are all first timers. the patients are 53. i feel like giving up, but i really would want to learn and be of help to those patients, mostly poor children.

[kungfu_panda]

Wow, just reading these posts got my eyes all teary! It just melts my heart to read all these amazing things about pediatrics.

[MandaAnda]

Perfect example of why I love it:
One of the kids who'd been admitted for sickle cell crisis for about a month seeing me walking past says, "Amanda, are you my nurse today?" and when I say that I am, he says "Yessssssssss!!!!!!!!!!".

I'm newly qualified and working in NICU, which is what I love the best, but I think I'll do bank/prn shifts on general paeds because I love those silly kids!