Attention NICU Nurses! What advice do you have for a new Grad RN?

[journey2success]

Hi everyone!!!!!!

I interviewed at my local children's hospital and was offered an RN position in the NICU! I am a little bit nervous because it is the largest NICU in town and we get transfers from other hospitals to our NICU.We have level I-III babies ranging from premies, to congenital heart defects, and other rare complex diagnoses. We get the sickest newborns in town. I will be having a 13 week orientation to the NICU and after that I will work on my own!!! Do you guys think 13 weeks is enough to be trained in the NICU?

My start date is in February In the meantime I plan to do a lot of studying on critically sick newborns.

What advice do you NICU nurses have for me as a new grad nurse in the NICU? Any pearls of wisdom? And how long have you been a NICU nurse for? Also, what books do you recommend? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to have a head start because other than nursing school clinicals I have little to none experience in the NICU but I am so excited to start

[katierobin23]

^^Everything that they said! The best advice I can give is to be a sponge! Take advantage of every learning opportunity and ask questions. I've found NICU nurses tend to be eager to help out newbies as long as you're eager to learn. We are big advocates for the little people in our care, and part of that is teaching new people how to take good care of them :)

Best of luck and congratulations!

[ilsaj]

Congrats on your new job! I've only been in a level III since this summer and only had 8 weeks. You've already received great advice but I can't tell you enough about asking questions! I thought I asked a lot of questions and now that I'm off I wish I had asked even more. Not that I can't still rely on my peers. I felt so overwhelmed at first and I still do but so much so I had considered if I had made the right choice even though it was something I dreamt of forever. Don't let intimidation and lack of experience stop you. Even co-workers who've had 20+ years tell me they are always learning new things. Good Luck!