Need honest answers please

nicu4me · Mar 27, 2009

I just went to NICU from adults, I feel worse than a new grad because I do know what I don't know and that it has been harder to transition than just coming out of school. Yes, time managment and some criticial thinking background helps but from running around with 7-8 pts on a shift to having just 2 babes on vents or whatever your mix will be, you will find yourself behind. Wow, my pts haven't gone anywhere, haven't put their light on ( minus all the alarms :) )) and I am still behind? I can walk a pt with two IV poles, a walker and around the furniture and have them about ready to fall at any moment AND still have a conversation, but I can hardly get my babe out to weigh them on my shift? A lot of it is fear. The families are usually very nice because to them we have the upper hand, not a good way to word that so please don't anyone flame me for that. What I mean is that they don't really even know their child yet, we have touched them physically more than they have, we have looked them over and been able to stay with them more than they have. So usually they really just show concern and what to be given reassurance and education, something that should be done and encouraged early. First time the mom comes over I show her what we find that our babies who are sick or premature like such as "developmental touch", so they stop the stroking or overstimulating and they never even knew that I was trying to stop an instinctive habit from ever starting. I then encourage her/him to do everything they can. So as far as leaving adults......I was tired of putting spit masks on my etoh w/d pts when I had 6 other surgicals with real medical issues/surgeries to deal with. I was tired of the MRSA and the complaints about the lack of "service". In NICU the parents can see everything you are doing and what the rest of the pod is doing, so they are usually not too demanding. Yes our babes can be infectious but it's not MRSA+ on 7/7 patients. I have had premature babies so I can say that I knew that working with adults was not where I was going to stay and when I finally realized that my experience with them was not going to help me with NICU is when I decided to quit.

Another thing I noticed after a couple of months is that i was missing conversation that i had with my patients, that now I work with my hands way more than with adults, that you will STAND more than you will walk, you may feel closed in as compared to running around on the floors and that because it is intensive care you will have ICU patients obviously but compared to adult ICU who are usually always ICU critical/unstable you can get an assignment where you have a couple of feeder/growers on their way out the door in a couple of weeks. You will see progress in your babes and that will make you feel good. Unlike the floor where you get the same few pts that are readmitted every so often. So you do make relationships with the NICU families and most of the time they are very rewarding!

iHeartNICU · Mar 28, 2009

Hey Tiger! First off, I'm a kidney transplant patient so thank you for what you do! I have had some really great nurses and think that anyone who enjoys working with renal patients is fantastic!

I graduated in December 2007 and went straight to NICU. Definitely a steep learning curve but very worth it. Anyways, there was a woman in our internship class that had been a nurse for 10 years in adult ICU and at first they tried to get her to do just a quick orientation. She said absolutely not since adult ICU and NICU are so extremely different. She ended up doing the new grad 16 week oreintation program with me. I think she's definitely glad she did that rather than just jump right in. Yes she definitely has the upper hand with time management, crisis management, etc but NICU was just as new to her as it was to the new grads. She went in knowing nothing about sick infants. So to answer your questions, yes there are absolutely places who I think would give you the same great orientation....you may have to be the one to bring it up and ask for it though. It seems like it would be to their benfit to fully train a nurse in NICU than to give them a quick orientation and have them jump right in and feel overwhelmed and then leave the unit. NICU is definitely a cool place to work. There's nothing quite like watching a 23 weeker grow, get bigger and stronger, and eventually be on full PO feedings and going home. It's really amazing thing. Good luck in your search!

NIGHTWOLF87 · Mar 29, 2009

hello tiger...

i am a level iii nicu nurse, and have been for the past 3 years. i have been an rn for 6 years now, and i started on a medical/oncology floor, did that for about a year, hated the nurse to patient ratio, about 14:1, and i have also done long term/skilled nursing care, pediatric home health, alzheimers patients, and even some psych nursing. for me, the transition was easy. i have always loved kids, and the learning curve for me wasn't too difficult. the standard nicu orientation here is minimum of 3 months, and depending how you are progressing, may be even longer.

there are times that during our shift (i work nights) we get slammed with admissions, or a baby suddenly goes bad and codes, stat deliveries, c-sections, etc. but all the nurses here at night, we are all good friends, and we watch out for one another. i have never been on a unit or other working environment that has this type of teamwork, and everyone gets along (unlike day shift).

during my orientation, if i had a question, i had no problems asking any of the nurses; they all were easily approachable and didn't mind me asking them whatever i wasn't sure of. our nicu here in el paso, texas, are always looking for nurses. in fact, they have hired new grad nurses and we have had other nurses from other units start working in our unit. and we are still hurting for more nurses for both day and night shift. so if relocating is an option for you, i would definitely encourage you to apply at our hospital. good luck on your nursing career and i hope you do get a nicu position. you will be glad that you switched! :wink2:

TigerGalLE, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2009

Well the director of the NICU called me today and told me they will only hire nurses that have experience in the NICU right now.... Sooo oh well... All I can do is try