Does starting in NICU make it difficult to transfer to other specialties?

I honestly don't know that answer. Most of the people who leave the NICU in my experience are leaving because they got their FNP or PNP. A few have gone to outpatient surgery or something like that. We have had a handful of people transfer FROM adult ICU/med surg to NICU and they say they don't regret it at all. 

Most people either move on to FNP, NNP, or retire. Very few move on to other specialties.

On 5/23/2022 at 9:54 PM, JunoBean said:

I just accepted a NICU new grad residency. I also have an interest in hospice and community mental health.

Would I be pigeonholing myself in the world of babies and peds if I start in this specialty? How difficult is it to transition to adult care? 

Thank you for your thoughts. 

 

 Not at all. People change specialists all the time. We had a few leave our NICU to pursue adult related care.

On 6/1/2022 at 5:23 PM, NICU Guy said:

Most people either move on to FNP, NNP, or retire. Very few move on to other specialties.

Which NNP programs do you recommend? TIA

I would not recommend starting an NNP program until you have 3-5 years experience at a Level III/IV NICU. Choose an NNP program affiliated with the Hospital you are working at. We had an issue a couple years ago where there were 6 nurses in two different NNP programs (One affiliated with our hospital and the other with a large university hospital in neighboring state) . Our NNPs could only precept 4 of them. The NNP students that attended the university affiliated with the hospital got clinical spots and 2 that went to the other university did not get a spot. One dropped out of the NNP program and the other restarted at the school that was affiliated with the hospital.

Probably, but why would you want to leave LOL?

I have worked with a few nurses who transitioned from adult care to NICU but only one nurse who transitioned from NICU to adult care. Very few NICU nurses leave and I do think you would be pigeonholing yourself in the NICU world. 

I started with a general pediatrics background and I have worked in several NICUs. I would say the NICU is it's own unique environment and I'm not sure how your bedside experience in a NICU would transfer to community mental health. You may take care of some NICU babies who end up discharged to home on hospice care depending on the acuity of the NICU.

Regarding the fact that it's a new grad residency program, explore the terms of the residency just in case you find that the NICU isn't a great fit and you want to switch to something else. Make sure you will have the freedom to leave if you change your mind. 

I am 59 years old and switched to NICU nursing 15 years ago.  I am burned out on the 12-hour night shifts and the “family-centered care.”  I have been trying to get out of NICU nursing the last few years, knowing I wanted to try some new areas - like a procedural area.  No one will hire me.  I’ve even had a manager tell me she wouldn’t even know where to begin with training a NICU nurse.  I thought about MSN Education, but again, I’m limited in what I can teach.  So unless you have plans to be bedside for your career or get NNP or FNP, maybe do other areas first.  I spent my first 6 years as a nurse in Adult  ICU and ER, which could have taken me anywhere.  

On 5/23/2022 at 9:54 PM, JunoBean said:

Would I be pigeonholing myself in the world of babies and peds if I start in this specialty? How difficult is it to transition to adult care?

Depends what you mean by adult care? A hospice or Cardiothoracic surgery?Usually we have adult unit Rns transfer into Nicu and few leave to other areas that are unrelated like nursing education.As ong as you have a willingness to learn and devote yourself to whatever area you choose you will be fine. Just do the needed preparation for each area.Good luck to you.

It’s possible to switch specialties from NICU, I did. But I was lucky because of COVID and all the staff RNs quitting to travel. I went straight to the NICU from graduation and worked there 3.5yrs before I started a periop 101 program. I worked PRN NICU while I did the program and worked in the OR. I worked in the OR for a while but had to relocate so I took a travel NICU assignment because I couldn’t travel in the OR. One of my coworkers started in the NICU too and participated in a hospital program that trained experienced nurses in new specialties. She went to the ER and floats between ER and NICU. 

I love the NICU and will always find a way to go back but getting experience in an Adult specialty has made me more valuable. I didn’t realize how much I love NICU until I left but I can always go back. Before COVID when I wanted to change hospitals or pursue interest in other specialties I couldn’t get a call back but with adding OR experience I have recruiters contacting me and has been more lucrative. 

Not sure if this is even still relevant for you but just wanted to add from personal experience. Starting in the NICU straight from nursing school, where they ingrained in our brains basics of adult care (for the most part). Vitals, common disease, processes, therapeutic regimen, medication classes, etc. just for your unit educator to tell you on your first day to forget all of it so that's what I did for the last four years and as I am currently transitioning into the ER after four years of baby world, my world is getting rocked. To be precepted by a nurse with a little over eight months of nursing on her own under her belt compared to my four years as a nurse is frustrating because I feel like I know nothing in the adult world however, if in the event a baby comes in on the first person they ask for