Whats your NICU experience?

[jackiei3]

So for 4 years I have been wanting to become a NICU nurse. My reasoning for wanting to be this type of nurse is because I don't have to work with dirty older patients, I feel like I would be able to get to know my patients family (so it's more personal/ meaningful), I enjoy babies, and I have had my heart set on the NICU before I even started my nursing classes.

Now I know it's not all rainbows and butterfly's, (Because no job as a nurse is) so what should be the average expectations as a NICU nurse? What are the frustrations, annoyances, & etc. THANKS.

[IamLissaLpn]

The occupation of a nurse in general is going to involve interaction at some point with one or more dirty, smelly, uncooperative, combative, unpleasant, rude, perverted, ungrateful, manipulative and patients and family members. You can not always pick and choose what you are willing to deal with and/or resolve. If you cannot embrace the true spirit of what it means to be a nurse, suck it up and take the good with the bad you are in the wrong profession. There is not a single field of nursing that does not have to deal with at least one of these issues on any given day. If you want to be a nurse - a good one - you need to put your big girl pants on and face every challenge as it is comes with professionalism, compassion and tact. You cannot always pick and choose what you are willing to deal with.

[tjnkjn99]

NICU nursing is an extremely specialized unit that requires a passion and drive to provide the best care possible to achieve the outcome in these babies future! If there is any other reason you are 'thinking' about becoming a NICU nurse just rethink it! I have been a NICU nurse for over twenty years and its a priveledge everyday to do what I do!

[tinkerbell419]

The OP shows a level of ignorance and naivety. Not all adults are dirty smelly patients. It depends on what is wrong with them. Does it make them incontinent? Can they wash themselves? Do they have capacity to do so? Have they been abused or neglected? Some adults are the most cleanest pristine folk you'll ever meet. They may be in ITU, A&E, cardiac and not have these issues of dirtiness or hygiene but may need an operation. You seem to be honing in on urine, faeces and all the nasties.

Well babies wee and poop non-stop and they cant clean themselves. We have babies who get sick. My trousers were drenched the other day but I knew the baby got their wind up so I didn't mind. Got home had a shower and threw my uniform into the washing machine.

We have some babies that are going through the proverbial mill, withdrawing from drug abuse and to see them is harrowing. Its very difficult to not make a judgement but we have to focus on the baby as a priority. I have seen things that could have been avoided and it makes me angry but then i would end up getting mad and not focusing.

The NICU is not a creche. Generally speaking the lower dependency patients should be a bit easier to deal with but they can pull tubes out and then it because a bit of a mission. We do have some lovely cuddley moments with the babies when we can cram an extra 10 minutes in or sing to them which puts a smile on my face. Parents have thanked and hugged me and i get a real buzz out of that.

[frequentFLyER]

Amen. Even if little hineys are easier to deal with than big hineys for some people, there was a better way to word that. It hurts me that someone going into nursing would say that. *sigh*

[YuHiroRN, BSN]

Come into the NICU with zero expectations. I've had some of the best shifts of my life running my butt off w/ 3 feeder/grower babies and the worst shifts of my life w/ a much smaller but more intense assignment. And vice versa. That's the beauty and the curse of NICU nursing: you never freaking know. But I couldn't see myself doing anything else.

[Girlafraid13]

24-week twins, desperately wanted by the parents who go through multiple cycles of IVF without success and finally conceive on their last-ditch attempt paid for by a family member. Watch all involved suffer through a week of life before taking them outside for the first and only time to die together .

I just about lost it with this one. ??

[YuHiroRN, BSN]

To be fair, OP simply said (a bit less tactfully, I suppose) what we say all the time: we don't do big people. But yes, oh yes, these babies can be just as smelly. But I'll take a premie nb diaper filled to the brim with mec that takes 5 minutes to wipe off baby's butt over changing adult diapers or depends ANY day. Sorry, slightly off-topic...

[TeamNursing, BSN]

I've worked in the NICU for almost two years as an RN and had a 4 month preceptorship beforehand as a student. My assignments to begin with as a new nurse were feeders and growers and then after sometime of employment you are expected to take more critically ill, complex babes even though feeders and growers can crump at any given moment (it happened to me within a 10 minutes time span). These babes include IVs, CPAP, Intubated, very unsable who have indrawing and are grunty etc,requiring eyes on them at times. After some experience as a nurse is gained you will then start to take on admissions where you and the team work together to stabilize babe, and attend resuscitations on L&D where codes are a real thing. There are some awesome parts of the job like feeding, bathing and cuddling babes who are stable enough, but also be ready to be exposed to fast paced, stressful emergency situations because they can turn within seconds. Additionally, there are a lot of sad social cases and complicated parents to deal with at times... Don't even get me started on withdrawing babies, they are a whole different ballgame and so heat breaking.You really do need to love what you do and working within a team environment. Some shifts are amazing and some are a nightmare that make you question your sanity and why you ever became a nurse. Every shift you literally don't know what your assigned with, what's scheduled to be admitted from L&D and if you're going to hit the ground running.