Am I pushing her too much?!?

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Hello all,

It's been a while since I last posted anything due to the high demand of nursing school but the time has come; preceptorship time. I'm in my final semester and ready to pull those long 12-hour shifts we're all waiting for, but of course, a bump in the road.

10-12 weeks ago, during my peds rotation, I was able to work with an AMAZING nurse who made me fall in love with peds and guess what, she likes to precept. SCORE! So I asked if she would be willing to become my preceptor for the following semester and she more than happily agreed. (I got her name, number, ect.) So as time nears for practicum and some of my other classmates are running around looking for a nurse, or just waiting for my teacher to pair them up, I sit there happily thinking "I've been done with this sh!t for weeks, Ha!" Wrong. Come to find out my site was never secured and now with only 1 week left until we begin our preceptorship I'm dead in the water with no nurse. :banghead: I received an email from my professor that she paired me with someone and that I am to meet her this Thursday. On a CCU step-down floor!! (Cardiac Care Unit) I know it's not easy to get all these sites secured and make sure every one is set but CCU? I email her back and ask if she would be willing to find me a peds preceptor and happily she agreed. Thank goodness. 30 min later I get an email that I'm on a NICU floor. Now, I know she didn't have to change me, I appreciate that she's going out of her way to accommodate me but not the peds I was looking for. During my maternity rotation I spent time in the NICU and didn't care for it. It was purely observational (for obvious reasons) and I didn't take away anything from the experience.

Now I'm afraid if I ask her to change that as well that I'm pushing her too much. Should i write her back and try and have it changed? Should I just deal with it and do my 10 shifts? So confused!

FYI: There is another girl in our class who as able to get a peds preceptor so I know I'm not asking for the impossible. Incase anyone was wondering.

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

I would just stick it out with NICU. It is only 10 shifts, and it will not lock you into NICU after graduation. Plus, IMO newborns and infants are the most different of peds pts compared to adults, so getting used to newborn feeding techniques, normal vital signs, etc would be a good thing.

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Thank you. If I can get it down with a newborn then peds should be a breeze. :) I guess I'm just worried about doing 12 hours of just observation, which was the case when I did my maternity rotation on that floor last year. The nurses did not want me to touch anything or any patient for that matter. If I am placed there I'll say "Thank you" like a good nursing student and take it as a learning opportunity with what I am able to do.

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.
Thank you. If I can get it down with a newborn then peds should be a breeze. :) I guess I'm just worried about doing 12 hours of just observation which was the case when I did my maternity rotation on that floor last year. The nurses did not want me to touch anything or any patient for that matter. If I am placed there I'll say "Thank you" like a good nursing student and take it as a learning opportunity with what I am able to do.[/quote']

Even as a peds nurse I have worked at several hospitals that required me to float to NICU. It is a good area to have an understanding of, even if it isn't your thing. Plus, after floating to NICU some I feel so much more comfortable with newborns. Hopefully your preceptor will have some shifts in the NICU step down area with more stable babies that are on track to be

D/c'ed soon so you can do more hands on care

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