Adult Med-Surg RN starting in NICU!

jscarlett26 · Jan 27, 2018

I ldft emergency nursing in May to begin working in the NICU. It was challenging at first (getting used to different norms for lab values, vital signs, etc. It was a smooth transition though and now am part of an amazing team. Good luck!

vintage_RN, BSN, RN · Jan 27, 2018

I worked on an adult surgical floor for 3 years before switching to NICU. I've been in the NICU for a year now. All I can say is everything is different. Everything. I used to be a phlebotomy and IV pro, used to be the go to person for a lot of things, I used to feel like I had a lot of knowledge. That all went out the window when I went to the NICU. Even a year later I am still very new and considered a new staff, and have so much to learn. It's a big transition. But it's so worth it if this is your passion. You will feel like a brand new grad again. Depending on what type of NICU you work in you may be doing more things, I work in a large academic centre so we have an IV/venous blood team, a PICC/central line team etc. So I'm not doing any of those skills and won't be for at least 5 years because that's when they consider training you...I have a lot less autonomy in the NICU than I did before...but that's my particular NICU. If it's a smaller NICU then you may not have that problem. Regardless, there's so much to learn...you will never be bored :)

jennylee321 · Jan 28, 2018

Get ready for a whole new way of thinking and to forget the way you used to do things because everything will be a lot different. Probably best to go in like you are a new grad and soak up all the knowledge you can. NICU is an amazing speciality and I wish you all the best.

Leader25, ASN, BSN, RN · Feb 4, 2018

study every night what you do in orientation. Small babies with big complications,big babies with even bigger issues. read the core curriculum every day,and Gomella,go to conferences,