Adult CVICU to Peds CICU?

[delphine22]

Hi gang,

I'm currently in adult MICU wanting to transfer to adult CVICU, but I think my eventual goal would be either PICU or preferable peds CVICU. Has anyone made the transition from adult hearts to kid hearts? I know they are a lot different, and there are totally different surgeries (who are these Norwood and Fontan fellas? lol), but it's got to be at least helpful, right? I still live more than an hour from the nearest tertiary center, so I would have to do adults first before moving to kids, but I see it far off in the distance and really want to be there!

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

I can't see any reason why your adult CVICU experience wouldn't be useful in a PCICU. Anomalous hearts are different from acquired cardiac lesions, but the way patients respond to cardiac surgery isn't all that different. Children have fewer malignant dysrhythmias than adults, but they do have cardiomypoathies, leaky valves, hypotension, bleeding, contractility issues, blocks, clots, pleural effusions, AKI... a lot of common ground. We run CRRT on kids, we do 12-leads on kids, we cardiovert kids and occasionally defibrillate kids. Most of the drugs are the same. The one thing you might struggle with is being really happy you patient's sat is 85%. I think you'd find it an asset to have all of that knowledge from the beginning. Best of luck!