First job is in pediatric PDN and I'm loving it.

[BeatsPerMinute, BSN, RN]

Hey everyone! I just wanted to share my experience with pediatric private duty nursing.

I am a new grad RN and have been working with a little girl that has a disorder that affects her overall development, GI & resp systems. She is such a cutie and I really enjoy working with her!

Typical day: 0800 get report from parents, review previous nurse notes, wake client and get her ready for the day, bring client down for breakfast, prep and give meds, complete cares (vitals, GTube cares, colostomy cares, resp cares), prep for part time school or therapies, go to school/therapies or allow independent play, VS/ nursing cares, lunch, spend time outside, work on PT/OT, VS/ nursing cares/ resp cares, prep and give meds, prep for bed, dinner, bedtime routine, night meds/ continuous noc pulse ox/ bi-level mask, put to bed, clean/finish charting, leave at 2000.

I work at a foster home that houses multiple medically fragile children. I never work alone and teamwork is expected. All of these kids are spoiled, lol. The mom is a nurse herself, so she is very helpful and I am learning a lot. I work 3 - 12 hour shifts a week and make $27/hour, which is more than nursing home offers and less than hospital pay by only $1-3/hour. I will eventually be trained to care for the other kids in the house so that I can pick up shifts & learn more. The other kids differ in stability and cares (central lines/trachs/dialysis/vents). Though I hope to obtain a hospital position in the future, this has been a great transition into the working world. In summary, I am very grateful for this job

[Budra3]

I am starting in PDN in 2 weeks and your post is so inspiring! I like how you can have other team members around, I will not have that cushion to help me so im a little nervous. What state is this facility in if you dont mind me asking?

[BeatsPerMinute, BSN, RN]

Budra, sorry I'm responding so late! I'm glad you found my post inspiring. Before I started this position, I read only negative posts about PDN (especially about new grads starting there) so I wanted to share that it is not all bad! I'm in MN. Where will you be working? Do you know much about what your responsibilities will be or not yet?

[AZMOMO2]

I'm an RN, a foster parent of medically fragile children and an adoptive mother of two of my foster children. Be careful, because it's catchy! With how much you come to love these types of kids and then wind up having a few of your own. :-) My second nursing job was in Pediatric Homecare at a Family Foster home and now.... well like I said...it's catchy. It also hurts your heart so much more when they pass too.