Hi, all. I'm a Senior nursing student who is currently on Pediatric Clinical Rotation. I love kids. I suppose that's really the problem . Yesterday I heard this really weird sound in the hallway, a screeching sound that didn't even sound human. I really thought it wasn't human, but maybe from a machine. I investigated and found another student holding a tiny baby, and the noise was coming from the baby. I am a mother, and the student was young and kind of perplexed by this tiny, loud being. So I picked her up and held her. The poor thing is on Methadone therapy for her addiction to opiates. I held her for a while, and heard that her mother has been AWOL for a couple of days. The baby is only 22 days old, and spends most of her time in a dim room, being held when someone has time. She opened those beautiful eyes and quit crying, staring intently at me. I talked to her and cuddled her (that was probably my first mistake ) and she just listened and stared in that way babies do. I sat with her in a rocking chair, and in the darkened room I felt so overwhelmed with sadness at the horrible start to life that this kid has. I cried all the way home from clinical. Today the girl caring for her needed a break, and I had no patients assigned, so I was put in charge of the baby again. I took her for a walk around the hospital, and she was so alert and interested. I talked to her the whole time. She began to fall asleep, so I went back to the room. She grabbed my fingers in one hand and kept holding tight while she slept in my arms. Every time I stirred, she jerked awake like she was checking to make sure I was still there. I cried all the way home, again today. How on earth do you Peds nurses who work with these babies do this day in and day out? My heart is so sad, and I can't stop thinking about her....I was a teacher for 12 years, but no kid has ever affected me this way. How do you all handle it?
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
TheCommuter, I hope you're not having to work with peds since you don't like them.
Nope. I am not having to work with peds. In fact, I have not yet started working as a nurse since my license barely became active on January 20 of this year. But when I find work, I will ensure it is not in peds. :)
Peds rotation was all I could handle. I used to live just down the street from St.Judes but there wasn't enough money to make me want to work there. I wish I could have but I wouldn't have lasted a week and I knew it. Praise God for those nurses who can deal with working peds. I have no problem with patients who pass but when it comes to peds, uh uh, I just can't.
I couldn't work in peds... I am not strong enough emotionally. There. I admitted it. I had to dress a 15-month old who had died when I was on my peds rotation... and even though that was years ago, it still bothers me to this day.
Specializes in PICU, Nurse Educator, Clinical Research.
I worked peds (PICU) from the time I got my license until a recent hip surgery took me away from bedside nursing.
Over just a few months, several of my patients died. The worst was a 13 year old girl who came in from the bone marrow transplant unit with SOB and possible cardiac tamponade. Her transplant was scheduled for the next day. She was in a panic when she arrived to the unit and kept telling me she felt like she was drowning, and that something terrible was happening to her. She died three just afterward.
I don't know why, but I never felt very emotionally attached to my pediatric patients; I was much more affected by the deaths of my adult patients. I really liked working with kids- especially infants- but i couldn't say that i categorically love kids anymore than I could make such a statement about adults.
I did love working with the families- even the ones who weren't handling parenting too well. I felt compelled to work with really sick kids because i *was* able to provide nursing care and emotional support without getting too emotionally entangled. Just like a lot of oncology nurses i've met felt drawn to that field for similar reasons.
It breaks my heart when I see homeless or abused and neglected animals- it literally makes me physically ill when I hear about such things. Is it because i don't have children yet, but I'm very emotionally attached to my dogs and cats? Maybe so- but I do agree with many who say you either love working in peds, or you have absolutely no desire to do it at all.
I have no clue how to keep them from breaking your heart. I just say thank God I have a heart to break. You don't have a Read Only mind, so things are bound to bother you. When I have to do things I dont quite enjoy, I visualize myself with these big rubber boots that go all the way up to my hips and crossing a river. I know I cant work with kids or psych, it would drain me, so I just have to get thru the clinical and lecture part.
Maybe you can just say that when these things happen, I am glad that I am one of the good people in the world, and I take care of my own kids the best way I know how. It helps me a little. Especially when I see the drug addicted infants.
hope that helps
I also visualize myself getting my license to practice. Sometimes the end justifies the means. Nothing is perfect.
Peds can be hard, but it can also be rewarding. Try not to think of the bad, but the good. Remember that you made this baby happy, and you showed her what love was, something that her mother obviously isnt. ( I pray she isnt placed back with the mother and gets into a good home, and/or gets adopted).
I've had one pediatric situation that broke my heart to the point where I was in tears on the ride home.
I had a 3 week old, mom was in her teens. Baby dropped onto hard floor, and had bilateral subdural bleeds and a large skull fracture. Grandma was present, seems as if she was more involved in babys care. Mother was either in shock, or did not fully understand what had happened. Showed no emotion. I transfered this baby out to a Pediatric Medical center, and I dont know what ever happened to her. Bothers me to think about what happened to this baby..I wish I knew.
IMO, you need a heart to work in Peds. It can be hard place to work, but remember it can also be rewarding in so many ways.
I'm not a nurse yet, but I do volunteer at a children's hospital. There was one little guy on the unit that the nurses nicknamed Pee-Wee. He was about eighteen months old and comes in all the time for URIs. He also has spastic CP. One of the nurses told me that his parents just leave him when he's sick and come and get him when he's discharged. (I know this could be for many reasons, but I also wonder if the URIs happen because he gets no PT like he should be getting, and just sits around all day.) Usually with these kids they have a special toy or two while there in the hospital, and you can see evidence of someone having been there. This kid had nothing. In fact, his stuff was on a shelf in a grocery bag, and I looked - there were NO TOYS, not even a blanket. He literally had nothing except a couple of clean sleepers.
He was SCREAMING bloody murder; I went in there and just let him hold my hand. He was tensing up with every scream, going stiff as a board, so I was afraid to hold him (though we're allowed to). And I have to say I felt like he was going to rip my finger off once in a while because he'd go so stiff! Poor guy; I just started talking to him and telling him that I was sorry everyone left him all the time, and that I would stay with him as long as I could. I recited every nursery rhyme I could remember, and sang every silly little song I could think of. Eventually he stopped screaming, and although he kept crying - big tears rolled down his face - he settled down. Other nurses stuck their heads in his room and could not believe how quiet I'd gotten him. I felt like crap when I had to leave - I'd been in there almost an hour - and he started squalling again. My heart just broke; I mean, EVERYONE leaves this kid.
At least for an hour, he knew someone cared, right? It's the one thing that kept me sane when I left. If the nurses are right, I'll see him again, poor thing.
And yes, I do want to work peds - in the worst way. I've been on the bone marrow unit quite a bit too, and some of those kids have passed away - but what FIGHTERS they are while they're here; it's inspiring. I mean, I'm upset over a bad hair day and these kids are trying to survive....it just puts things into perspective, you know?
Hi, all. I'm a Senior nursing student who is currently on Pediatric Clinical Rotation. I love kids. I suppose that's really the problem . Yesterday I heard this really weird sound in the hallway, a screeching sound that didn't even sound human. I really thought it wasn't human, but maybe from a machine. I investigated and found another student holding a tiny baby, and the noise was coming from the baby. I am a mother, and the student was young and kind of perplexed by this tiny, loud being. So I picked her up and held her. The poor thing is on Methadone therapy for her addiction to opiates. I held her for a while, and heard that her mother has been AWOL for a couple of days. The baby is only 22 days old, and spends most of her time in a dim room, being held when someone has time. She opened those beautiful eyes and quit crying, staring intently at me. I talked to her and cuddled her (that was probably my first mistake ) and she just listened and stared in that way babies do. I sat with her in a rocking chair, and in the darkened room I felt so overwhelmed with sadness at the horrible start to life that this kid has. I cried all the way home from clinical. Today the girl caring for her needed a break, and I had no patients assigned, so I was put in charge of the baby again. I took her for a walk around the hospital, and she was so alert and interested. I talked to her the whole time. She began to fall asleep, so I went back to the room. She grabbed my fingers in one hand and kept holding tight while she slept in my arms. Every time I stirred, she jerked awake like she was checking to make sure I was still there. I cried all the way home, again today. How on earth do you Peds nurses who work with these babies do this day in and day out? My heart is so sad, and I can't stop thinking about her....I was a teacher for 12 years, but no kid has ever affected me this way. How do you all handle it?
you almost made me cry. i can picture that child and this is why i wanna be a nurse
I can't hear about children who are hurting physically or emotionally and not feel it like a painful stab in my heart. I just can't. God bless everyone in peds who is there for the kids. I couldn't do it, I am a fighter, I am really afraid how far I will go if something like carolinahpooh's story happens to me. I will call DCFS and let them know of the neglect and stop at no end until I know the kid is taken care of.
DCFS is probably very aware of these things. They're overwhelmed just like nurses are. There aren't enough good homes to place those poor kids.
That said, the way to work with any tragic situation is to develop compassionate detachment. Yes, by all means every nurse should care about his/her patients. That doesn't mean that you get so totally wrapped up in them. If you got so attached to your patients that you go home crying every night, it won't be long before you can no longer do the job. Then who will be there to take care of them?
I dont know how peds nurses at my peds hospital do it...when i was there over the summer there was a little boy who was maby 3 when ever i went by or my parents went by he was by himself, well no parents they always had a hospital volenteer with him. i was more thinking about myself since i had just had surgery but i still found it upsetting.
Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.
When I chose nursing, and when I was in school...we had a fabulous teacher that really had us to a lot of soul searching to find out our REAL limitations in caring for people. Mine was definately infants and small children! And something I am so glad I have come to terms with!
I do not take on small children as patients typically, and stay far from infants. To see what the poster saw would have me in tears and angry...not a good spot for a nurse!
But the times I have had to take on these types of patients, I have really focused on the GOOD I was doing for them, and if I was doing my best...then it is a win situation even if I don't see the results right away! That is the one way I can overcome the tears that want to come out!
I use to say I wasn't a kid person, but working with some...well, I think really that I am! I have so much fun with children in hospital, spoil them rotten but still get my job done. They trust me almost immedately! And that is such a good thing! But still...an area I just don't emotionally do well!
I say a big THANKS and KUDOS to all Peds and infant nurses!!!!! There is just something they posess that benifits us all and our future!!!!!!
. Yesterday I heard this really weird sound in the hallway, a screeching sound that didn't even sound human. I really thought it wasn't human, but maybe from a machine. I investigated and found another student holding a tiny baby, and the noise was coming from the baby. I am a mother, and the student was young and kind of perplexed by this tiny, loud being. So I picked her up and held her. The poor thing is on Methadone therapy for her addiction to opiates. I held her for a while, and heard that her mother has been AWOL for a couple of days. The baby is only 22 days old, and spends most of her time in a dim room, being held when someone has time. She opened those beautiful eyes and quit crying, staring intently at me. I talked to her and cuddled her (that was probably my first mistake 
Life doesn't make sense sometimes..thumb.gif.09f7460d3e1ff8d6732564d77b5465cb.gif){kind=avatar}
TheCommuter, BSN, RN
102 Articles; 27,612 Posts