Hate Peds?

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Hi all,

I'm going thru my peds rotation right now and absolutely hate it. The kids are cute but it's really different for me to assess them since most can't talk and the spectrum of diseases range from simple RSV to chronic cardiac and CF kids. Meds are always IV or IVP which my previous rotations did not prepare me for. I'd been doing my clinicals at a hospital that did not permit students to touch IVs or administer IV/IVP meds. So much different and more stressful for me.

Anyone else hate the peds rotation too? Am I alone? :devil: I feel so evil typing this!

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Specializes in NICU.

Don't feel bad about it - this is what makes nursing great - there is something for everyone and not everybody loves the same thing. I am a pre-nursing student myself, so I can't give you personal experience, but I have a very close friend who is just like you - peds she absolutely hated! She is in awe of the nurses that could work there day in and day out, for her it was just too depressing. She is interested in hospice/ER/long term care/???. She also did not like neonates. Don't get me wrong, she has a 3 year old daughter and loves kids and babies to death, but not to work with as a nurse. Now I, on the other hand, am not interested in the things she is and hope to one day work in a neonatal ICU with the babies and families.

I don't think it's evil that you don't like peds, it just means that you are human and it is not your niche. Is there one area you really do like? Focus on what you love, because that is what will make you a great nurse. :)

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In the sense of children, while you can get the objective information for your assessment, when it comes to subjective, this is when it comes to working with the child's parents..They will be able to comment on the child's recent behavior. In peds more than almost any other specialty, the family is a vital component when trying to work with children.

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I honestly agre, not everyone is cute out for peds. some people just can't stand to look at a sick child or deal with the death of a child like that. Yes i know that you may also have kids, but it's different when they are dying and there's nothing you can do about it as a nurse except let time run it's course. I'm cyrrently a nursing student now, i just got accepted into the program and i can't wait to do my peds rotation, infact i hope to one day be able to work at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. I don't think it's evil to say, i just think it takes special types of nurses to be able to work in peds, which is what all the nursing professors have said also.

And, even then they said it makes or breaks, some people who think they want peds don't after their rotation, it all depends on your niche is all..

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i haven't done peds yet, but i am dreading it. i have no desire to work with kids. in fact they make me nervous, they can go downhill so quickly. so if you are evil, i am too!

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

The reason why i loved my peds rotation was the kids. That was the only reason. Some of the PARENTS (and i use that term loosely) on the other hand were something else. There were a few that chatted on the phone the whole time, used the f word every other word while talk, THEN yelled at the kids if the KID said that, then there was the famous war with the fathers......

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Specializes in Telemetry/Med Surg.

I love kids but I really did not enjoy my pedi rotation one bit.

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Specializes in Med Surg/Tele/ER.

I did not like Peds or OB....I do like kids, but I would go insane if I had to deal w/child abuse. I can't stand to watch it on TV....it just makes me just want to take the law into my own hands! :angryfire OB was ok but not for me. I sure do admire all the nurses that can, and do work w/kids!

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Specializes in LTC.

I'm in my last quarter in an LPN program, and we did a peds rotation last quarter. I loved it, and have done some more optional clinical observations the last couple of weeks.

Most of the students in my class though, agree with you. They all hated our time at Children's hospital.

I guess to each his own. You either enjoy an area or you don't. It doesn't make you bad, just different.

Good luck, I hope you find an area you love as much as I love working with kids!

:monkeydance:

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I agree about peds nurses being special. They have to be able to deal with parents, child abuse, and seeing sick children. I realize that kids get sick but seriously sick is almost unnatural.

I've also had kids that are abused or in less than ideal home situations at home. I took care of a girl with myasthenia gravis who's living with her grandmother. Thank goodness for the grandmother but she was also taking full time care of 10 other children. I worried about this girl for the next week until I took on my next sad case.

So... I guess, i just bring it home with me and it gets me down. I'm glad there are people who can deal with everything in peds. Like I said, they are special people.

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I hated my Peds rotation, too. Kids are not my thing. It doesn't matter if they are sick or not (actually, the really sick ones are not that much trouble - they are as miserable as I am and don't want to be there either). I have 3 kids of my own that I love, but I am just not good with other people's kids. On the floor where I worked before I started school, it had med/surg, oncology, respiratory and pediatrics all on the same floor. I used to beg the charge nurse to not put me on the peds side. Everyone has their own thing. I absolutely loved my hospice rotation. To each his own.;)

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OB/PEDS is the rotation I am most looking forward too!

I reallllllly dont like critical care

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