How hard is transitioning from adult ICU/IMU to NICU? Tips?

[sdecourcey]

I'm currently working in an adult intensive/intermediate unit in a small community hospital. I graduated in the spring 2015, so I entered this position as a new grad and have been here nearly a year. I like my job and I feel that I've learned so much (and still have a lot left to learn!) But I'm considering at some point making the transition from adults to neonates. I know that lots of employers want 2+ years of NICU experience, so that might pose a difficulty seeing as I only have the 1 year and it's in adult care, but I'd like to at least scope out my options and maybe I'll get lucky. Besides, I'm not in a huge hurry to leave my current job - just making plans for the future.

Anyway, to get to my actual question: has anyone been in a similar situation before? Can anyone spare some advice as to how to bridge the gap? Is it as difficult as I'm expecting it will be to get into the NICU with such limited experience? Does anyone have experience with internships/classes/residencies (or whatever you want to call them) in neonatal care?

Thanks in advance for the help!

[sergel02, BSN]

One of the nicu nurses my friend met during clinical came from a cardiac icu.

I don't have a whole lot of advice to give other than what she told me she was told.

From whar sge said, Nicu is unique and a specialty but it is still icu. Your critical care foundation should come in handy. Babies still get sepsis and pneumothoraxes and such. Things are a lot tinier and there are new diagnoses that may be hard to learn at first but you can do it. Possibly reading a bit about neonate care and nursing or taking a class might help as well.

[Maevish, ASN, RN]

Thanks for asking this because I'm thinking of doing that sometime soon (my poor back! haha) because I love babies. However, I had misgivings because the only ICU experience I have has been with adults and that's been for about 7.5 years now.

xo