Adults to Peds

[CruzanNurseRN, BSN, RN]

Hello guys! I am currently an adult cardiac nurse for approx. 1 year now. When I graduated nursing school I always wanted to get into pediatrics but the internship programs in my area are very competitive. I was already working for a hospital as a PCT during nursing school and my manager told me I would have a guaranteed job as soon as I passed my nclex. My current hospital does not serve the pediatric population, so I applied for a internal transfer for our children's hospital, got a call for a interview 2 days later, then I got a call a week later that I was hired:). I start in 2weeks on the hemo/onc floor. I am excited but scared because I have never dealt with kids besides nursing school. During nursing school my favorite rotation was women/peds.

Do any of you seasoned pediatric nurses have any tips for me? Anything I should be studying? Any special supplies I need? I am open to any and everything you guys can give me.

Thank you guys in advance. :-)

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Get some child-friendly scrubs. Watch some Nickelodeon and Disney Family. Listen to some Carly Rae Jepson, One Direction and Selena Gomez. Your patients for the most part will be alert and interactive so if you can keep a conversation going for a few minutes you'll make big gains. Having even a tiny bit of pop culture will be huge. Most of your nursing skills will be put to good use without much modification but the interaction part doesn't always come naturally to nurses who haven't worked with kids. Maybe a little review of growth and development might help; most of these kids have been healthy and developing normally before they became ill. The exceptions to that are children with congenital hematologic disorders such as sickle-cell or Diamond-Blackfan anemias. A little brush-up on them wouldn't hurt.

Don't bother buying a pediatric stethoscope. It might be worthwhile to get a good lab values reference and a good IV drug manual. Best wishes! I hope you love it!!