Established Adult Nurse to NICU?

[Jacqueline.Damm]

Hey everyone, I had a question for you.

I recently have been given the opportunity to sit for an interview for a NICU position at my local hospital. I was surprised (it was a bit of a shot in the dark for me) seeing as my experience has not been of pediatrics in any way shape or form.

I've been a nurse for almost 4 years and have had the chance to work both in Med/Surg, Hospice/Palliative, Oncology and for the last few years Cardiac Progressive/Step-Down-- obviously all positions concerning caring for adults.

I have always had interest in post-partum, neonates, pediatrics (basically all nursing falling under that general umbrella...) But I've never had the opportunity to sit for an interview with a position in either of these realms.

With that said, how did you all head into the NICU? Was it fresh out of school or did you have backgrounds in other things? How was your transition? How long was your training? Did you find your backgrounds assisting you in your position or hindering your learning?

Do you find that a strong background in pediatrics prior to the NICU is more beneficial?

I know that I'm only heading into the interview at this point, but my excitement (and fear) of this possible change has made me want to reach out to all of you more than ever.

Any feedback or guidance is more than welcome. Thank you for your time!

[Devinenursem13]

My two cents and experiences are this: Prior to being a nurse I had a pre-hospital background (EMS) and thought I'd love working in the ER and it would be an easy transition, boy was I wrong. Sometimes you truly don't know what you want to do until you try it - so I learned the hard way. I then transferred to adult ICU and that was better but still not my thing. A few years later I then had the opportunity to transfer to the NICU and absolutely loved it. They will teach you the NICU way but I bet you'll find that your critical care background will VERY MUCH come in handy! No peds experience is necessary as peds and NICU are very different animals (mostly). Best of luck!