Giving Nursing Students a Taste of NICU

So today I was wondering..... how well do we as NICU nurses best represent what NICU really is to nursing students?

Too often, nursing students are abruptly dropped off at the NICU door, handed a scrub sponge, and abandoned by their nursing instructor, who is equally petrified of what lies beyond the glass-paneled door...

We all know that students rarely get a glimpse of what we do in NICU, let alone get to experience the day-to-day life that is our job as a neonatal ICU RN. Often we groan inwardly at the idea of having someone tag along with us on our highly organized and structured routine, interrupting our seamless flow of care with the interjection of questions and gasps at "how small these babies are."

Nursing schools haven't changed much in the way they teach neonatal nursing care. They just, well, don't. I mean, when I was in nursing school 5 years ago (= ages), We briefly covered nursing care of the well newborn along with the onslaught of information that comes with learning enough antepartum, labor/delivery, pediatric and newborn nursing in a mere 15 week semester. I can't even remember what I learned about neonates.

So where does that leave us, the lucky nurse to have been volunteered to show a student around?

I think it leaves us NICU nurses with an obligation to give them a realistic and honest taste of what NICU life is like. This means having them get report with you, check orders, go on deliveries, calculate meds, run fluids, change diapers, feed, assess, look up labs, observe procedures, attend rounds, etc. The most important thing is to let them get their hands "dirty." I can't tell you how many students have followed me, with a wild, petrified look in their eyes, suddenly relax and melt when I've picked up a bread-and-butter 31 weeker on room air and passed him to them while I changed the isolette mattress....The look is priceless..puzzlement, terror, then excitement... They suddenly go from believing "This is something I could NEVER do" to "Wait, I could do this!"

We need more good nurses in NICU. Here's our chance to mentor a few good ones, before they leave the unit thinking, "Wow... I could never do that.... I'm going to med/surg!"

My goal is to have that wet-behind-the-ears nursing student, overwhelmed by life, school, and the choices ahead of them, leave the unit after that one day thinking "THIS is what I want to do....."