Changing specialities

Specialties Pediatric

Published

I'm presently a RN on an adult PCU. I commonly see Post op CABGs ( after extubation), vasoactive drips, stable home vented patients and all the other things that come with being on a stepdown unit.

However, my fiancé and I are moving and I'm seriously considering going into pediatrics. I went to nursing school thinking I wanted to do peds. However, after graduation I didn't feel like that was my calling. I'm now at the point where I realize I don't love my job anymore. I want a change.

I want to do NICU ( 1st) or PICU. I'm looking into the transition to pediatric nursing program at Children's Medical Center in Omaha. Anyone have any advice? Has anybody made the switch? If so how was it.

Even if I get a peds job I still plan on working prn on an adult pcu unit in order to keep skills current.

Our stories are very similar. I started in a Step Down Medical/Oncology unit and was there for 4 years. I always knew I wanted Peds, but I had such a great manager and team that I couldn't leave the MedOnc unit. I knew I needed to make the change, and go back to what my original dreams were.

I do not know about the hospital you are talking about, but in my hospital you need to have Pediatric experience before you can go into a critical care area. Your past experience will help you tremendously, but the patho and diseases are so different in kids. I am not saying its not impossible to get into a CC area, first, but consider a less acute area to hone your skills. Kids you have to learn skills that you never even imagined as an adult nurse. Trust does not come as easy with kids, their specific age challenges, and a whole new set of fears and the tricks you need in your orificenal to try to get a kid to do something they do not want to do. Working with parents is a whole other layer that is a challenge onto itself.

Now that being said, Pediatrics is amazing! I love the reward of seeing kids at their sickest and being able to get them better. Most don't have co-morbidities, complicating their recovery and you get them back to their most healthy state. It is so rewarding.

If this is what you have wanted to do, I say go for it! Give it a try! You will learn so much

PeakRN

547 Posts

Specializes in Adult and pediatric emergency and critical care.

I'm not familiar with their program but we transition adult nurses into our peds floors and PICU all of the time. Of course we start out new to peds nurses on teens and older kids; neonates, hearts, and ECMO cases come after time and experience. We prefer to hire nurses with critical care experience into our PICU over those without even if they had pediatric experience, it is easier for us to teach peds than critical care.

If you want to do peds I say go for it. There is certainly a learning curve, but it is also very rewarding.

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