Is a transfer to NICU from adult ICU career suicide??

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Ok so I have been pondering this forever. I have ALWAYS been passionate about babies and NICU but because I wanted to be a CRNA, I took another path. I went from Tele to ICU and I am just burned out now. It's to a point where I don't even know if I want to be a CRNA anymore. All I can think of at this point is my original dream of being in the NICU. I had a telephone convo today with a friend of mine, one of the cardiologists at the hospital who said "do not transfer to NICU. You've come too far. There is no growth in the NICU". He said a transfer like that would not translate well on paper or in practice.

His statement, although appreciated, really ruined my day. I've been thinking about it all day. My question is, how far in my nursing career can I go with NICU experience? I googled jobs for NNP and believe it or not, there aren't that many job postings out there for NNP!

So how far can I go with NICU experience? Maybe as opposed to NNP, I can do WHNP? What would you go back to school for? Where has your NICU career taken you? Thanks in advance.

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Specializes in NICU.
So how far can I go with NICU experience? Maybe as opposed to NNP, I can do WHNP? What would you go back to school for? Where has your NICU career taken you? Thanks in advance.

You are making an assumption that everyone wants to move on from bedside and become an NP. I have coworkers that have done NICU for 30 yrs and I have seen new grads use NICU as a stepping stone to put their 1-2 yrs in and off to NP school. If you have no desire to be a bedside nurse, then stay where you are and go to NP school. If you want a bedside nurse specialty to last until retirement, then NICU is far more gentle on your body than Adult ICU.

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Appreciate your reply. Definitely not an assumption as I work with nurses everyday who have worked at the bedside for 20+ years. I love Nursing however being at the bedside for that long is not my goal. Perhaps I'm reading it incorrectly but your comment comes across as "if you want to get a Masters, stay away from NICU". í ¾í´” I don't think it's fair to say that unless a person wants to retire at the bedside they should not experience other departments.

What I love about Nursing is that it's so versatile and you don't have to stay in one place. I am simply trying to find my niche and I believe it's with neonates. MY question is, how can I grow within the world of neonates because YES, I would very much like to go back to school someday and further my education/career. If there was a high demand for NNP, I would do it in a heartbeat but because I can't really find that many jobs when I search, Indeed et. al, I am asking what else is there that a person can do.

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Specializes in NICU.

If your goal is to find something outside of bedside, besides NNP, the only other non-bedside nurse jobs would be Lactation Consultant or Clinical Educator. NNP vs FNP is a matter of ratio. A lack of huge number of NNP openings does not nessarily mean lack of demand. There are far fewer people going into NNP than FNP. We have hired several NNPs plus a Neonatal PA in the past year. Transferring would not be career suicide. Many (I work in a 300 RN unit) of my coworkers have moved on to FNP from the NICU, if you find out that NICU or NNP are not the place for you.

As the saying goes "I don't do big people". I have no desire to deal with adult patients. I wasn't trying to discourage you. I felt that it wouldn't be worth the hassle of learning neonates if your goal is away from bedside in the next few years. NICU is a whole different world than adult ICU.

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Thanks very much!!! Perhaps I will look more into NNP then. I have thought about LC as well. Currently I reside in NYC with hopes of moving to West Palm Beach. I was looking for NNP positions out there and couldn't find any. So many of my colleagues tell me that once you're in NICU you'll never want to leave, not even for school. There are 4 open positions in my hospital (which never happens) so, I'm applying and I'll see where the road takes me!

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We have a huge shortage of NNP's in my area (the Pacific Northwest) so if you're willing to relocate to the west coast, you would be golden. I went from labor and delivery to NICU two years ago mostly just because I was relocating and needed a job and absolutely love it. I couldn't see myself moving anywhere else now and I'm one of those people that got 2 years of experience and just applied for NNP school ;)

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We have a huge shortage of NNP's in my area (the Pacific Northwest) so if you're willing to relocate to the west coast, you would be golden. I went from labor and delivery to NICU two years ago mostly just because I was relocating and needed a job and absolutely love it. I couldn't see myself moving anywhere else now and I'm one of those people that got 2 years of experience and just applied for NNP school ;)

I transferred and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! Best decision I could have made career wise. My heart feels like it's going to explode with love every time I look at one of these little babies. All I do is read the Merenstein & Gardener's handbook on downtime because I want to know everything there is to know to about these little guys. Who would have known that this would be my niche. Sigh... í ½í¸

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