what makes a great NICU nurse?

DianaRNC · Mar 12, 2013

A great NICU RN is someone who Loves the babies AND thier families, who loves to learn, who is confident but asks lots of questions, has great critical thinking skills, and who loves to teach.

NICU RN for 4 yrs

NicuGal, MSN, RN · Mar 13, 2013

Patience, critical thinking, able to think out of the box, being flexible and adaptable ( babies don't take orders well lol), able to deal with things that may go against some ethics you have (why do we save that 22 week baby just to have him live for a week and you feel it is cruel to the baby and the family, why did we save that full term baby who was down without a HR for 15 minutes only to have him be profoundly devastated ), have to be able to deal with 12 hours of a screaming withdrawal baby, be able to deal with parents who are off their rocker or only come in once in a blue moon. Most importantly, you have to have that FEEL for the job. We don't just sit and rock and feed babes all night!

Going on 28 years in the biz :)

Bortaz, MSN, RN · Mar 15, 2013

Patience, critical thinking, able to think out of the box, being flexible and adaptable ( babies don't take orders well lol), able to deal with things that may go against some ethics you have (why do we save that 22 week baby just to have him live for a week and you feel it is cruel to the baby and the family, why did we save that full term baby who was down without a HR for 15 minutes only to have him be profoundly devastated ), have to be able to deal with 12 hours of a screaming withdrawal baby, be able to deal with parents who are off their rocker or only come in once in a blue moon. Most importantly, you have to have that FEEL for the job. We don't just sit and rock and feed babes all night!
Going on 28 years in the biz :)

That about sums it up.