Best and Worst of Pediatric Nursing

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As an aspiring pediatric nurse, I would love for some current pediatric (or even neonatal) nurses to tell me what you love most about your specialty as well as what you find difficult or just plain hate. I would also love to hear what made you choose your specialty and whether or not it was what you expected. Answer just one or both questions at your leisure, and if there's something else (stories, advice, whatever) you want to share, please do! :)

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Specializes in Adult M/S.

I've been a pedi nurse for the past 5 years, 1st worked on a acute respiratory floor, then rehab, and now school nurse. What I loved: being a 45 yr old man w/o my own kids and being responsible to feed/change/comfort newborns when they were sick. Seeing really ill kids of all ages get admitted and w/in a couple of days seeing them jumping and playing around the room! Quick recovery times are great. Making sick kids smile by being goofie and silly with them. Lots more. What I don't like. Many famililes are not prepaired or interested in parenting their kids. Seeing a new father who would rather watch the TV then hold his newborn boy. The abuse some kids suffer at the hands of their parents/others can be unimaginable. Giving kids shots. Kids can have painfully high pitched screams and when these are directed right into your ears they really hurt. Seeing kids with EB, chronic pain, head injuries and not being able to do much to help thier suffering.

I've never worked with adults so can't compare, but kids in general have smaller poops, and don't gripe as much as adults.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, ER.

I work in post ICU rehab, on a med-surg floor that's basically like a NICU/PICU stepdown. We have central monitoring and a 3-4:1 ratio (rarely 5:1 if we're extremely short-staffed). Sometimes that feels like a LOT, sometimes it's a piece of pie. I love expreemies and micropreemies that come in around 4-5 lbs with trachs and gtubes and watching them progress. I love watching them start to meet milestones. I love watching the parents learn more care and become independent. I also float to the acute rehab floor that has mostly adolescents and while I love that too I find it harder because for the most part, these are the kids that were totally normal before they came in. They're kids with traumatic brain injuries, AVMs, strokes, etc, whose lives are dramatically different now and will most likely never be the same. I always wanted to work in pediatrics and couldn't decide if I wanted NICU or PICU. This is giving me the opportunity to get a little taste of both to know where I want to go from here. I want to get good solid experience before moving on to an ICU setting and we have kids with IVs, central lines, lots of ventilator weaning, very complex medical histories with lots of rare diseases and syndromes, and lots of special needs children. We are one of only 5 hospitals like ours in the entire country and it's a very special place to work. The kids are amazing.

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Specializes in peds palliative care and hospice.

SarahBeth, where do you work? I am at a similar facility but interested in what you mentioned. I am at a pedi LTC facility.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Best: Being able to educate parents about their kids' health/illness and seeing them really "get it". Seeing kids who come in looking miserable get better fast and go home looking great. Some of the patients with chronic illnesses who you get to love.

Worst: The crazy, or uncaring parents. Abuse cases. Pediatric deaths.

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Specializes in Tele.

I love my peds patients. The smaller the better.

ONE thing that I detest, is some of the parent's attitudes. Some parents are just plain rude even after explaining things clearly to them. And you are always having to keep a smile on your face with a difficult parent is not easy.

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Best: Seeing my kiddos get better. When they start smiling and playing, it makes me SMILE!!! WORST: Babies get very sick quickly. It can be scary at times.

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Specializes in PICU, NICU, Peds LTC, Case Management.

I worked in the PICU for 2 years and have been at a pediatric long term acute care facility for 2 years now.... the best part of my job is seeing children smile, play, and attempt to carry on normally despite their illness. They continually remind me that I really have no reason to complain about ANYTHING! The worst part of my job? I can't decide what upsets me more... families who straight up don't care about their child at all or families who cannot let go and continue to have us (medical/nursing staff) torture their child unnecessarily. There are alot of things about my job that I have to really make a conscious effort to leave at work when my shift is done. I guess that goes for any area of nursing though!

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