Acute Peds NP vs Neonatal NP

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Specializes in Cardiothoracic Surgery Stepdown.

Hi guys! I am currently a nurse on pediatric BMT floor.  I have done pediatric homecare as an LPN and did a little bit of the peds OR.  You can say peds is my thing. I started my interest in nursing volunteering on the mother baby floor and was able to help in NICU. NICU made me fall in love with nursing and where I thought I would end up.  It is hard to get into NICU so I have been working in peds which I adore just as much.  

This Spring will be my last semester in my RN-BSN program and will be doing my senior project in a level IV NICU in a Level 1 trauma center, major teaching hospital. I feel this is great because it will help me determine if NICU is where I truly want to end up or if Peds is where I am meant to stay. My job will cover up to 90% of my tuition if I do grad school through them. Right now I see myself going Acute Care Pediatric NP as I really want to stay in the hospital setting.  I have noticed there are not many peds NP's in this hospital or in surrounding hospitals in my area. Peds NP jobs appear to only be in private practices which I have no desire to do.  I do however see more job postings for Neonatal NP which was my original plan all along. I am from New York and see NY has more pediatric NP opportunity in the hospitals verses here in North Carolina. 

Realistically, I don't plan on applying to NP school for at least 5 years. I want to be a very well seasoned nurse before taking on an NP role. However the lack of pediatric NP jobs has me wondering if I should make the switch to NICU down the line as that seems to have more opportunity at the moment.  Any input or insight would be great!

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Specializes in NICU.

There are many hospital PNPs, this just may not be a thing in your area. I would say that most metropolitan area children’s hospitals employ PNPs, so it just depends on...are you willing to move? What do you want to do, take care of babies or kids? Some people do both but it’s hard to practice both as most jobs aren’t split. There are some PNPs that see newborns in a hospital and see kids on the side in a clinic that I know of...

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Specializes in Cardiothoracic Surgery Stepdown.
On ‎11‎/‎7‎/‎2020 at 1:08 AM, babyNP. said:

There are many hospital PNPs, this just may not be a thing in your area. I would say that most metropolitan area children’s hospitals employ PNPs, so it just depends on...are you willing to move? What do you want to do, take care of babies or kids? Some people do both but it’s hard to practice both as most jobs aren’t split. There are some PNPs that see newborns in a hospital and see kids on the side in a clinic that I know of...

Im in the research triangle so I am surrounded by many great hospitals; Duke, UNC, WakeMed. When ever I look at job postings I see Neonatal NP jobs and have seen 2 jobs for pediatric NP's at the hospitals here. Most PNP jobs are in clinics which I do not want to do I enjoy the hospital setting.  It just makes me wonder if I should do the neonatal route and switch to NICU since that is where the demand is

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Specializes in NICU.

Do you have NICU RN experience? This is virtually required by all schools

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