After 20 yrs. in Level 3 NICU, I'm thinking about working Level 2 and just picking up occasionally in Level 3. The stress and intensity is getting to me. Especially the parents! I had parents of a 29 weeker asking me if his bedding would strangle him, if the feeding would drown him, etc. etc. They asked non-stop questions the whole shift, I try to be empathetic, but I'm having a hard time. I think it would be less stressful to take care of babies who are going home within weeks, instead of months! In some ways I'm feeling like a failure, but I can't take the stress. I know Level 2 can be stressful too, but the babies just aren't as sick and I think the parents are a little easier to deal with.
omg!!! some days the parents are more of a challenge than the sickest baby! i would rather take care of a 400gram infant with 20 gtts, hfv, blood products and q1h gases who's parent don't or can't visit, than a kid who parents are there to watch him grow cell by cell, and will not give you one second to even look at another infant. what i have come to realize people are not getting any smater, they lack comom sense and comon curtesy. most of the parents can not process that the baby in the next isolette is coding & dying while the are asking you for a blanket or to wipe a guber from the baby's nose. i like the off shifts, to avoid visitors. best of luck in level 2!
i agree!
my unit does not have a step down so we got everything from learning to eat to ecmo...i would much rather the sick as snot, pressors maxed out, hfov etc...give my brain some work and excitement!
OMG....I have not worked level 3, but my co workers who have say that level 2 is where its at for long term jobs. I mean, why suffer in a level 3 when you can occassionally suffer in a level 2? I love my job, its challenging enough, but it is laid back too. You are not a failure because you do not want to be stressed out for the rest of your career.
ittybabyRN, RN
239 Posts
i agree!
my unit does not have a step down so we got everything from learning to eat to ecmo...i would much rather the sick as snot, pressors maxed out, hfov etc...give my brain some work and excitement!