HELP I'm a Pedi Nurse in Radiology!

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 2, 2018

Hello and welcome, GaryRay!

First, what will your duties in your new department entail?

Will you primarily be administering moderate sedation for procedures?

Will you set up a sterile field for procedures?

Will you assist with procedures?

WILL you be starting IVs or will the patients come to you all prepped, from a prep area (much like a preop area)?

Will you be responsible for assessing patients and then administering IV contrast, monitoring for adverse reactions?

The equipment is all very different depending on the exam and the vendor (who the facility purchased their equipment from).

AND, most of the time the technologists are -- rightly so! -- responsible for it. They undergo an intensive 2-4year program to become proficient as radiologic technologists. They are specialists in their area, much the same as we are specialists in the area of nursing.

Once you fill in a little, I perhaps can expand on some of the above.

Meanwhile, congrats and there is lots to learn, but you don't have to know it all tomorrow! :)

guest940422 · Feb 3, 2018

Hey thanks for the responce

1) It is a large Radiology department attached to the highest rated facility (US News and World Report) in a major metropolitan area. The hospital has over 900 registered beds, is non-teaching, and is owned 50/50 by a for-profit (HCA) and a non-profit entity (though I'm told it is run more like a for-profit institution) I'm not really sure if that makes a difference in the adult world, but it makes a world of difference in the Pedi world.

2) The manager is very hands on and "in the trenches" which is my prefered leadership style. She told me I'm being hired for pre-procedure but she expects me to cross train through the whole department after 6 months. They get an even mix of in patient and outpatient procedures and have a full staff of 28 RNs right now and are bringing their numbers up to 30 full time staff members.

3) I'll initially be doing pre-procedure work up, history taking, discharge instructions, coordinating with inpatient nurses for anything from conscience sedation for MRIs or LPs, stress tests, monitoring contrast, starting IVs, assessing patients pre and post sedation, and emergent CTs (they are a stroke center). I'm told they place and repair a lot of PACs which I've observed but not assisted in.

4) Later, in special procedures, I'll be expected to be more involved in the veinouse cases (which to be honest I thought fell in the cath lab world so glad I kept my foot out of my mouth in the interview) They also apparently do some kind of radiology guided bleed control procedure for hemorrhagic strokes (it is possible I completely misunderstood this explanation). The GI lab and pedi departments are not part of our department, however the GI lab occasionally requests help with GJ placements

5) I was told everyone trains in each area on the unit and in any given day you are likely to rotate into 2 or all locals. No one ever stays in the same spot all day. I know I'll be prepping some patients and I assume assessing them... crap I don't even have an adult stethoscope! LOL. I don't know about setting up sterile fields, but if it is anything like setting up the sterile field for a bedside chest tube or central line insertion then I can do it blindfolded.

6) So far to keep from looking like a total moron when I start, I've brushed up on TIAs, MIs, and

Emboli since those seem to be the big ticket things in the adult world we don't see in the pedi world.

I also retook ACLS and the NIH stroke assessment courses online. Beyond that I'm trying to remind myself I'm still an ICU nurse, but I can't help but feel the same nerves I remember as a new grad.

Now I understand why people stay in high stress specialties even after they are burnt out. The unknown really is scary. I don't know if I should freak out or laugh at myself for over-reacting!

Thanks for the help.

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 3, 2018

It sounds like you will have ample support and also enough time orienting to where you AND your preceptor are satisfied with your level of competence. -- before moving on!

You seem to be doing as much as possible to prepare yourself -- for what is right now pretty much The Unknown!

Relax, open your eyes, ears, and mind during your time at work, and absorb all you can. Tuck away pearls of wisdom and experience, from which to draw when you are on your own, or are The One that others go to for answers or results!

I'm sure your peds experience will come into play when you need to start IVs on veins that make their presence known only by a small blue line (you are used to those!). And I am equally sure that tidbits of knowledge from nursing school and other experiences in the world of adult nursing, will again appear.

Keep us informed of your journey!