adult er vs peds er nursing

[nursem2]

I am thinking of switching from adult er to peds er. I have been a nurse for about a year and a half, and have only done ER nursing with a brief, unhappy trek into public health nursing. Anyone out there who has made the switch themselves? Love it? Hate it? Words of wisdom?

[HyperTension]

I have done Adult ER, and Pediatrics at University of Michigan (da' Big House". I personally enjoyed the peds aspect of it by quite a bit. The biggest thing that I learned / appreciated was just how quickly a ped can crash. For little buggers, the can be very challenging / mentally stimulating (gotta love critical thinking on a critically ill ped).

The other aspect of it that I had to learn to adapt to was the fact that alot of the children has issues that I had never heard of "chrosome X on protein Y deficiency), and now I have to treat this child (ABC's granted). Be prepared to have the parents educate you on the "in's and out's" of whatever illness the child has. Be as open and receptive as you possibly can. It took me a while to realize and accept that ped medical vs. adult medical is night and day different, and that I am the one needing to be educated, vs. pushing pt. education. (pride goeth before fall).

Overall, very stimulating, pleasant, and would absolutly do it again. To be honest, I would still be there, however I am back in my old general CCU go get time for CRNA school (>1year waiting list to get into the SICU for swan experience at the "U".)

[teeituptom, BSN, RN]

I look at like that children can be little adults, while most adults act like little children. So whether working ER or a peds ER never seemed to be so much different to me.