Do you have to hate adults to love peds?

[SweetPotatoes]

Hi everyone, I spent a while searching for this specific topic, so forgive me if it's been addressed already.

I will be a new grad in May and am looking at the types of jobs I want to apply for. I requested that my practicum be in pediatrics because I grew to love the specialty during school.

However, I kind of feel like I'm getting cold feet. I am a CNA on a surgical floor for adults and I like it a lot, and can see myself working there too :/

So I feel anomalous, as it seems that nurses who like peds hate working with adults, and nurses who work with adults dislike peds. I am in the middle. I like both worlds and appreciate their differences.

Nursing school makes us all so familiar with adult care and comorbidities, while we only get half a semester working with pediatric patients. Perhaps this is part of my problem--unfamiliarity. But pediatrics has interesting congenital issues and the kids have the most beautiful spirits; I love teaching and interacting with the patients and their parents. Getting yelled at by parents and feeling like you could so easily hurt a kid sucks though. But healthy kids turn into healthy adults (hopefully) and that's so important. I'm able to communicate well with young children all the way to teenagers, I've noticed. The amount of knowledge peds nurses must have about newborns to age 21 is vast and I look forward to that challenge as well.

On the other hand, I love teaching adults themselves, as well as their family members. I like the knowledge gained from working with adults and find it applicable to daily life. I love learning about new medications, skills, evidence-based practice for adult care, and more.

Do any pediatric nurses feel (or have ever felt) this way? Did you always know you wanted to do peds? Do you feel limited in your skill set, or do you feel as if you'd be able to work with and teach adults if you decided to ever change specialties? I know there are many threads here with questions about transitioning, but I didn't see any from nurses who actually started OUT loving both worlds and kind of just "picked" one to start.

Being the extremely practical person that I am, I feel like if I jump straight into peds, even tho I want to work there, I will not have a wide enough knowledge base about adult comorbidities. But I don't want "practicality" to overshadow my desire in this way. My ultimate plan is to be a public health nurse (after working at the bedside for manyyears)--a specialty which encompasses skills from both pediatric and adult worlds.

I did see a couple of threads where nurses said they worked in one specialty full time and per diem in another. Is this still a thing? Do any peds nurses here work per diem in the adult world??

Thanks in advance for the responses. Any questions that could help me think this through better are welcome, also.

-SP

(edited for clarification)

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

This is a new subject for me -- and I never thought of it before. My observation is that people who work in pediatrics tend to stay in pediatrics and people who work with adults rarely venture over to pediatrics, but I'm not sure about HATING one or the other.

I work adults; always have. I was never around children -- my sister and I were about ten years younger than all of our cousins, I never babysat and none of my friends had younger siblings. I wasn't able to have children -- the idea of pediatrics never even entered my mind. When I had to float to the newborn nursery, I was so anxious I nearly cried. It was awful -- the nursing supervisor made me go back to my floor and sent someone else instead, because "most people LOVE babies."

I'm thinking that if you can handle pediatrics with the med calculations and the family, you'll be able to handle adults. If your ultimate goal is family health and taking care of both adults and children, take the job you can get out of school. In a couple of years, you'll have experience and can take a job with the opposite population.

Thanks for the interesting question.

[LoveMyBugs, BSN, CNA, RN]

Well you do have to teach adults in pediatrics, you have to teach the parents.

everyone is different, but I know a couple of nurses who work peds as their main job and then work a mixed ER, so they are caring for adults as well.

Me personally I worked adults for 11 months and that was enough for me. I loved taking care of the little elderly but there was too much of the other middle aged angry crowd for me.

Now working where I do and seeing the amount of child abuse I am jaded against adults.

However that is just me.

if your goal is family care then try to work in mixed areas

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

I have done adult, peds and neonatal ICUs. I have colleagues who flip back and forth- I certainly did.

I don't hate working w/ adults. Never did. I prefer kids is all. (Better snacks)

[SweetPotatoes]

I have done adult, peds and neonatal ICUs. I have colleagues who flip back and forth- I certainly did.

I don't hate working w/ adults. Never did. I prefer kids is all. (Better snacks)

Cool! When you say flip back and forth, do you mean worked peds for a while, then adults, then peds, etc? Or did you work one as your main job and do another PRN?

[SweetPotatoes]

Well you do have to teach adults in pediatrics, you have to teach the parents.

everyone is different, but I know a couple of nurses who work peds as their main job and then work a mixed ER, so they are caring for adults as well.

Me personally I worked adults for 11 months and that was enough for me. I loved taking care of the little elderly but there was too much of the other middle aged angry crowd for me.

Now working where I do and seeing the amount of child abuse I am jaded against adults.

However that is just me.

if your goal is family care then try to work in mixed areas

That's a good point about teaching adults and working in mixed ER. I would love to be able to work peds as my main job and work an adult med surg PRN. I used to do social work jobs and understand what you mean about child abuse. I learned to separate myself because it can be traumatizing if you're not careful.

Did you find that 11 months with adults helpful, or do you feel as if you could have jumped straight into peds and been ok?

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

I requested that my practicum be in pediatrics because I grew to love the specialty during school.

I like both worlds and appreciate their differences.

Nursing school makes us all so familiar with adult care and comorbidities, while we only get half a semester working with pediatric patients. Perhaps this is part of my problem--unfamiliarity.

Then you made a good decision choosing Peds as you Practicum. Nursing school and your job has given you a considerable amount of exposure to adults. The practicum will give you more exposure to Peds. When you graduate, you will be in a better position to decide which direction to head.

[SweetPotatoes]

This is a new subject for me -- and I never thought of it before. My observation is that people who work in pediatrics tend to stay in pediatrics and people who work with adults rarely venture over to pediatrics, but I'm not sure about HATING one or the other.

I work adults; always have. I was never around children -- my sister and I were about ten years younger than all of our cousins, I never babysat and none of my friends had younger siblings. I wasn't able to have children -- the idea of pediatrics never even entered my mind. When I had to float to the newborn nursery, I was so anxious I nearly cried. It was awful -- the nursing supervisor made me go back to my floor and sent someone else instead, because "most people LOVE babies."

I'm thinking that if you can handle pediatrics with the med calculations and the family, you'll be able to handle adults. If your ultimate goal is family health and taking care of both adults and children, take the job you can get out of school. In a couple of years, you'll have experience and can take a job with the opposite population.

Thanks for the interesting question.

Haha glad it was an interesting question! I guess I've just seen so many strong feelings from nurses in my short school career about loving one specialty and really hating the other.

I am like you in that I am the youngest in my family and I am never around children. I did not want to do peds until I was actually exposed to kids and loved it. I am good at the weight based med calc; my instructor was very good about not allowing us to give a med unless we could say if it was a safe range or not. I also like remembering developmental nuances..like ok this 3 year old needs to be given choices so he feels like he has some autonomy in this situation. This 8 month old should be able to sit up on her own etc. I guess I just worried that I'd be too limited if I started in peds but like you said I can always switch or try to get adult experience in another capacity. I think since I genuinely enjoy both populations, I'd like to keep that flexibility in my career. Thanks for the input.

[LoveMyBugs, BSN, CNA, RN]

That's a good point about teaching adults and working in mixed ER. I would love to be able to work peds as my main job and work an adult med surg PRN. I used to do social work jobs and understand what you mean about child abuse. I learned to separate myself because it can be traumatizing if you're not careful.

Did you find that 11 months with adults helpful, or do you feel as if you could have jumped straight into peds and been ok?

I initially wanted to go in the ED right away, due to the market when I graduated I went into adult SNF. I don't hate adults, just don't care for them if given a choice I choose peds.

I work peds ED at a level 1

Peds is specialized and while I have my CPEN and TNCC, I do not have ACLS. A few of my coworkers do as they have other jobs in mixed (mainly adults) EDs

I think you have a good plan of full time peds and per diem adult med-surg.

For me I grew tired of adults throwing tantrums and feeling like I could not do anything right. Like being 5 min late on their PRN oxycodone. Or being spread so thin with patients that one of my patients expired alone.

Peds when my patient who is an actual 2/3 year old throws a tantrum, I can give stickers or blow bubbles or make it better with a special bandaid.

ratios tend to be better in peds. When working peds LTC and my pt was dying. The pts family and myself were at the bedside.

I can see the positive and negatives of both peds and adults. I don't think you have to hate one to work the other.

[brownbook]

I don't think it is hate or dislike. I think it fear. Most nurses are afraid to work out of whatever field of nursing they are familiar with, comfortable with. Instead of admitting that they are afraid, it scares them, they say, "Oh, I don't like working with kids".....or...."I don't like working with adults".

You may be able to get a position that floats between med/surg and peds.

I have always floated, I love it. I think it is just my nature, I always like to go new places, try new things, go off the beaten track.

[SweetPotatoes]

I don't think it is hate or dislike. I think it fear. Most nurses are afraid to work out of whatever field of nursing they are familiar with, comfortable with. Instead of admitting that they are afraid, it scares them, they say, "Oh, I don't like working with kids".....or...."I don't like working with adults".

You may be able to get a position that floats between med/surg and peds.

I have always floated, I love it. I think it is just my nature, I always like to go new places, try new things, go off the beaten track.

Being able to float sounds awesome. Are there limits to floating? Like would a med surge floor take a L&D nurse? Or would an icu take a med surg nurse?

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

Cool! When you say flip back and forth, do you mean worked peds for a while, then adults, then peds, etc? Or did you work one as your main job and do another PRN?

I have a friend who does PICU as her main gig, and adult ER at a different facility PRN. I've almost always had a side gig in peds PDN during my entire career- no matter what population I'm working with.