Adult NP would like to switch to babies.

puttinontheritz · Aug 8, 2011

The job market around my parts isn't really that bad for ANPs, the thing is, I am not happy seeing patients in a clinic setting, listening to the complaints, patients who think they know more than you and give you that cynical look when you try to explain things to them...the grouches, the ones who expect you to fix every ailment, the ones who believe there should be a "pill for every ill" and I just all around don't enjoy being an ANP. The only reason I became an ANP is because it was the only NP program I qualified for, and at the time I figured I was lucky to get into any kind of NP program because the competition seems pretty fierce.

I'm incredibly bored, I even spent $800 recently to get wound care certified. I am also going to take some neonatology classes through the education department at Vanderbilt University in September, though I'm hoping (but not getting my hopes up too much) that will help me get my foot in the door to a position in the NICU. I downloaded Merenstein and Gardner's Handbook of Neonatal Nursing on my Kindle, which I am reading and would like to take to an interview to prove my interest in neonates. On the other hand, I do owe about $20k in student loans, my husband is pressuring me to get a job as an NP and thinks I'm being foolish wanting to change my focus at this point in my life. I see his point, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to do this.

The whole reason I never pursued neonates earlier was not from a lack of interest but because I live in a rural area (NICUs are in the bigger cities), I was raising small children and had a host of other responsibilities that kept me shackled to geriatrics. I'm willing to drive the 1.5hrs now, but the opportunities are just not out there at this time. I applied to interview for a NICU position but was turned down and instead offered to interview for a position in the CCU...if I have to stick with adults I'll just find a ANP position.

Ideally, I would work in the NICU a year, then start applying for post master's degrees for the NNP. Not only is the pay fairly hefty, I know I would find a delight in working with babies that I'm missing right now. Doesn't look like that boat will be passing my way at this point, though.

HazelLPN, LPN · Aug 16, 2011

You are not too old to change careers. I worked in adult ICU (later MICU) for 30 years before I started doing PICU and then later floating to NICU on a regular basis. I was both physically and mentally burnt out from MICU. I was pushing 60, and MICU isn't easy on your body when you are young. I started phasing myself out of the MICU slowly...cutting my hours down to eight hours a week...and cross trained at the Childrens' hospital in the PICU where I was hired contingent. Yes, it was a lot of work, but I loved it and caught on quick. Whoever says an old dog can't learn new trick is mistaken if that old dog is bright and passionate about what they are doing.I loved seeing the younger patients heal so much faster..I felt useful again instead of simply prolonging someone's life, which was often (not always) the case in the MICU. I also loved that the smaller patients were much easier on my aging body. I wish would have done it much sooner because I developed a true love for pediatric critical care and I found myself eager to go to work again instead of dreading it. I started doing NICU when PICU census or acuity was low and they didn't need me. I had already established myself in the PICU and found the NICU easy to adjust to, although I was never a real NICU nurse...more of a substitute NICU nurse. Eventually, I stopped working any hours in the MICU at all as I simply wasn't physically able to deal with the increasingly obese/morbidly obese patients we were getting.

You're 36...that's still very young. Maybe you could cut back to part time in your adult job and cross train for contingent hours in a local NICU to see if you like it before you take the plunge as a full time NICU RN before you train for NNP.

Best to you,

Mrs H.