First day of peds rotation today...any advice?

cheripa · Jun 23, 2004

Make sure you know your Erickson, Freud, etc... I found out that it doesn't matter that your careful, the child will view you as a threat. The nurse that I had to follow was nice, but her ways of getting her vitals and head to toe were harsh! She told me that the parents sign a paper saying they want there child treated. She told me that if she don't get the correct information, her license would be on the line. Working with the toddlers was hard! Good luck! That's all I can say. You'll just have to go with the flow.

raynefall · Jun 23, 2004

I will be starting peds in Aug and I am very nervous about the parents too, but we'll be okay.

studentnurse74, LPN, LVN · Jun 23, 2004

I'm just afraid of having to stick small children with needles. That would upset me. :crying2:

PennyLane, RN · Jun 23, 2004

I don't have much advice, but good luck. Most days I felt like a babysitter. Also some of the family situations I saw were really sad. It wasn't my favorite clinical.

totallytheresa · Jun 23, 2004

I haven't gone through it yet, but I did have a patient on the ortho floor who was rooming with a girl who was 16 who had had scoliosis surgery- I just wanted to cry whenever I saw her because she seemed so young and small. I will have to toughen up a bit before I get to peds because I did actually tear up when I talked to her/saw her!

Who here has gone through it already? I'm excited, but a little nervous. I think I'm more nervous about being around the parents than anything else.

jenrninmi, MSN, RN · Jun 24, 2004

Welp! Just finished my first week of peds rotation and everything went fine. I had a relatively easy patient. Hopefully the next five weeks will go this well. Thanks for the responses...it scared me!:imbar

Aneroo, LPN · Jun 24, 2004

Did peds last semester, loved it...Did not want to deal with parents, and for the most part I didn't have to. It sucked so bad, b/c you wanted the parents to be there too! We were not allowed to start IV's on the kids...they didn't want our first IV (practice) to be on a child. I mostly had babies. One was a 3 mo preemie who had hydrocephaly. We were partnered up that week, and of course it's me and the guy who don't have children. We learned quickly that after you overfeed a baby, don't squeeze or lay flat! :chuckle I did get to start an NG tube on a 5 week old with FTT (weighed about 6lbs). That was an experience, and I thought "If I can do this to a child, I can certainly to it to an adult" (same for IM and SQ injections). There is a lot to learn on peds, b/c they see everything. Hardest part for me was trying to find all the meds, and whether it was a safe dose or even safe for children. The staff was so helpful, but they could be protective of the children on the floor...esp. the ones who have been there their entire life (sad, but true...esp b/c she's 3!!!). Good luck, let us know how it goes. -Andrea