Losing other skills?

[Emm_RN, ASN, BSN, MSN]

Hi fellow nurses, I have been working in a level 4 NICU for one year now. I worked on a med-surg floor prior to the NICU. I absolutely LOVE nicu, however, I am only 22 and I am worried that if I stay too long here that I will lose skills/knowledge I gained from school because the NICU is so specific and specialized. I am thinking about going back for FNP and I am wondering if staying where I'm at now will hinder me in the future. I'd love to hear from other people who have had a similar situation or just get any advice.

Thanks for reading and hopefully responding!

[kp1987]

I sometimes worry about that as well, so I kept a causal position on my old med surg unit and pick up shifts there every once in a while to keep my adult skills up. I feel like it's kind of like riding a bike. A little bumpy at first but things come back to you. Maybe try getting a PRN job else where to keep your skills up and mind fresh?

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

I think it will. I know plenty of NICU RNs going to school to be an FNP and some are having a hard time securing jobs upon graduation.

Also, if I were an employer, I wouldn't hire an FNP who didn't have any RN experience in adult care.

[sergel02, BSN]

This is something I wonder about. People tell me you really have to know you want to do NICU when you go in.

[babyNP., APRN]

yup. I only really like babies so I did not care. If you want to do FNP I think you need to at least branch out to PICU if not going back to adults. It'll be much easier transition. It's not impossible, but your learning curve will be much higher and as others have said, may be harder to hire depending on the saturation of the market for FNPs which is quite bad in certain areas of the country.