Why I Want to work in the NICU... is this enough?

[nursingstudent0814]

I am still in nursing school, 3rd semester. I have been considering working in the NICU and I've decided to post my thoughts and feelings on why I want to do this. I'm interested to receive feedback on whether my reasons are sufficient and if my feelings are shared by others who have chosen a career path in the NICU or if I am misreading my own feelings and am fooling myself into believing I am suited for working in the NICU. please bear with me because it is long, but important to me to have feedback.

- Babies are the innocence of the world- they all deserve the most devoted and passionate advocates, whether it be the last caring touch before beginning their life outside the hospital doors or the last caring touch while taking their last breath of life.

- The parents of the v babies need advocates, too. The parents need someone who they can feel comfortable with, someone they feel their baby is safe with. Someone to keep a threshold of hope, especially when theirs is wavering. Someone to connect with when b they feel no one else can possibly understand how they feel. Someone who knows they, in fact, can never fully understand how they feel, but is possibly the only one who can come close to understanding. Someone who can recognize and differentiate between sympathy and empathy; who can be okay with not completely understanding the emotional rollercoaster the parents are on, but has the desire and drive to keep trying to relate in all ways possible.

- I was born addicted to drugs, and although I will never be able to fully comprehend how the nurses felt while caring for me, it's enough to know that someone spent long hours of their time, donated their emotions and knowledge to me in hopes of me living a full life. That is amazing and instills an immeasurable amount of appreciation in me. I would love to make that kind of difference in someone else's life. Not because I want to feel important, not because I want to be thanked, but because at the end of the day, whether acknowledged or not, I know I have played a positive part in making a difference to the patient and the family. Whether the final outcome is ideal or devastating, the important thing is to do it because you want to, because you wouldn't feel right not doing it.

- The NICU is also appealing to me in a medical sense. Babies are intricate, they require keen senses, attention to detail, and someone willing to learn more, research odd or foreign problems, symptoms, and possibilities. They deserve someone who is willing to do more, someone who wants the answers. I am an inquisitive person, a critical thinker, an abstract thinker. I take all possibilities into considerations and that in turn keeps my eyes and brain open and aware of all details.

- They (patient and family) deserve someone who understands the balance of science and support. Someone who sees the line between wanting a cure and knowing when enough is enough. Someone who wants to do everything medically possible yet understands and accepts when the more important move is to provide support, and care for the baby and the family. Someone who can provide caring communication and read people and be willing to connect on many different (professional) levels. I believe I have all of these qualities,

Is that enough?

[HyperSaurus, RN, BSN]

NICU nursing isn't some mystical journey that requires the absolute most pure motives to be considered worthy. Of course your reasons and feelings are sufficient and valid, but that really isn't something that strangers over the internet can confirm for you. You have to decide for yourself how you feel and it sounds like you already have.

However, you are only half way through your program (I'm assuming...a lot of nursing programs are approximately 5-6 semesters long). You don't know what life will throw at you or whether you'll even be able to find a job in a NICU that hires new grads. Even if you do get there right away, you won't truly know if you are suited to it until you are there and working. You may have all the right reasons but struggle with the work flow, or the demand on your emotions, or your coworkers. Who knows?

Be open to other experiences. I didn't get into NICU right away, but my experiences on my previous floor were invaluable to my work in NICU. Or you might find your niche in something totally unexpected.

With all of that said, good luck finishing school, I hope you get your dream job in a NICU, and that it does turn out to be your niche. You do sound very passionate, which sometimes, is the only thing that gets me to go back to work.

[nursingstudent0814]

Passionate, I am! Thanks for the good luck wishes! I do have 2 semesters left before graduation and something may change my mind, but probably not. You are right, its not some mystical journey (although I find that particular comment made me feel like how I feel is somewhat silly, and I don't appreciate blushing behind a computer screen because I feel like my thoughts are kinda being poked at). Other than that, I have to disagree about pure motives! No, you do not have to have pure motives to do the job, but your motives will determine how you do the job. The "why do you want to be a nurse" is the most important factor in what type of nurse you become! If it wasn't, employers wouldn't incorporate it in every interview given.

[Luckyyou, BSN, RN]

Nobody has ever asked me why I wanted to be a nurse (and I'm sure they wouldn't love the answer), and the reason I'm in the NICU now is because it got me out of my awful med/onc nursing job. My motives have no bearing on the quality care that I give. I grow weary of the stereotype of the NICU nurse being an idealistic angel ready to devote her life to the care of fragile newborns and nothing else. I give kick ass care to some of the sickest kiddos in the country, and my reasons why aren't any better or worse than anyone else's.

[nursingstudent0814]

No one said anything about an idealistic angel. I was simply listing my thoughts as to what gives me the desire to be a NICU nurse. And yes, many employers ask some form of the question "why do you want to work in this area", "why do you believe you are qualified for this particular job?". It's great to hear that your motives do not affect your work, however, just like the first person to comment on this mentioned, sometimes passion is the only thing that gets her back to work. It's a proven fact that people who love what they do tend to fair better in the job. If you hate your job, you're more likely to get burnt out more quickly, more irritated....If you have 2 nurses, one who is there of the money and hates doing the work, they are most likely to skip small, meaningful details, like simply giving a patient a back rub after a bath. Motives DO matter to some extent. Different motives affect people in different ways. My reasons listed have nothing to do with a stereotypical idealistic angel, as a matter of fact, the most common stereotype people mention being weary of in this area of nursing are the ones who want the job because "they love babies" or "want to play with babies all day". I actually gave very thought out reasons that are meaningful to me, instead of the stereotypical "I love babies". I'm very confused as to why my reasons listed would be offensive to anyone. What if I said I went through these forums and found all the qualities that people find "good" NICU nurses to have and picked out the ones that naturally applied to me and came up with this list of reasons? Reasons and qualities that people on this forum made clear that they think makes a good nurse? It seems like people hate when someone expresses how they feel in an honest way, especially if it happens to cause some type of internal conflict for those who are constantly comparing themselves to others. This wasn't meant to make anyone else feel bad and in no way was it supposed to be a "I'm better than you" message, it was simply my thoughts and feelings about the topic.

[AspiringNurseMW]

Ummmm, I don't see anyone being offended at your post. You asked for feedback and you got honest one. You attempted to make a point and some one countered it with their own experience. Loving what you do and the reasons why you do it do not have to be aligned. You can become a nurse mainly because it provides financial safety for your family and still love your job. I don't think your post made anyone feel bad, they are simply stating their thoughts and feelings as you asked.

If I were a prospective employer, most of your reasons do seem a tad idealistic, except maybe reason number 3. Although I am not yet a nurse I have been a manager for a number of years.

Perhaps you should interview NICU nurses and ask THEM why/how they got into NICU and see if you can find any common threads

[babyNP., APRN]

pssst, here's a secret:

most of us went into NICU because we love babies. period. It's a pretty self-selected specialty of nursing, just like L&D. your reasons are completely fine, but I always wonder sometimes when people come up with all of these complicated reasons on why they want to go into the NICU. It's okay that you want to be a NICU nurse just because you love babies.

Now, you can't go at it to the manager with the framing that you love babies and you think they're adorable (which they /are/) and showing that you don't have an inkling that the job is very tough and emotional. Because it is. But you don't need to come up with a myriad of complicated reasons on why you want to be in the NICU. I'd pick one or two and discuss your passion for babies.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

Actually, everything you stated can be applied to every area of nursing. All patients deserve the best care, someone to be their advocate, and for someone to care for and support their family. These traits aren't just unique to our little corner if the world

[Baubo516, RN]

I just want to say that one day I would like to work in LD/NICU EXACTLY because I love babies. I don't think there is anything wrong with having idealistic reasons for doing something... as long as you mentally prepare yourself for the hard, gut-wrenching parts of the job, like the death of an infant. I am not trying to work with babies for my first job as I have had some complicated fertility issues and this area of my life is still in flux. But, when I am finally at peace with my childbearing status (or lack thereof), I plan to work with babies. I think being part of the first group of people to care for a brand new human is a huge responsibility and an opportunity to give them a good start.

[HyperSaurus, RN, BSN]

I never said I hated or was offended by your opinions and reasons. I gave you my thoughts and feelings in response. This actually reminds me of a good friend of mine in nursing school. She was infinitely more passionate and even idealistic compared to me. We had a lot of interesting discussions and debates regarding this.

Other than that, I have to disagree about pure motives! No, you do not have to have pure motives to do the job, but your motives will determine how you do the job. The "why do you want to be a nurse" is the most important factor in what type of nurse you become! If it wasn't, employers wouldn't incorporate it in every interview given.

I disagree. Motives do not necessarily determine how you will do the job. I work with a NICU nurse who didn't even want to be in the NICU initially. My facility offers an internship program for our adult ICU. For just the year that she graduated, the internship was in NICU instead. She cried. She applied anyways and got it. She is an awesome, compassionate, and smart nurse. I know of another nurse who ended up in our NICU because she had put in a general application to our hospital and her resume got pulled when our NICU had an opening. She's doing a great job. There are others who are in it, "for the money." That's fine, they have to eat somehow. It has no bearing, however, on their practice. They are conscientious and thorough, they take pride in their work.

I guess what I'm getting at is that it's fantastic that you are so passionate about this, but there's nothing wrong with getting into a job because it's just that, a job. I'm concerned sometimes when someone is super idealistic and passionate about something like NICU nursing or whatever. I know I said that sometimes my passion for this is the only thing that gets me to work, but it is also sometimes the very source of my burnout. If you give everything you have to something like this, you can get to the point where you just can't give anymore or you keep taking your job home with you and it affects your everyday life. To all of the nurses out there experiencing burnout, it's not because they all didn't love their job enough . Another name for burnout (related to nursing specifically) is "compassion fatigue". You have to be able to step back and distance yourself sometimes, but this isn't something you can really learn until you are there, actually doing it.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

And yes, many employers ask some form of the question "why do you want to work in this area", "why do you believe you are qualified for this particular job?".

I, too, have been asked why I became a nurse during an interview.

Here's a piece of advice: do not disclose the fact that you were born addicted to drugs during an interview. Interviewers can be as judgmental as anyone else in society, and you do not want to reveal anything about yourself that would give the impression that your origins may have started on the wrong side of the tracks.

Good luck to you!

[nursingstudent0814]

Thank you for that advice! I hadn't really thought of it that way before. I've always tried to take that price of my history and put a positive spin on it as I am the only one in my biological family who has gone to college and possibly the only one to finish high school. I've always used it as an example to show determination and motivation, but you are completely right in the fact that many people sometimes have biases that they aren't even aware of until its brought to mind. Thanks!