New Grad Pediatric Stepdown Nurse: What are your tips/advice?

[_Cecilia_, BSN, RN]

Hello! I've recently received and accepted an offer to start as a Pediatric Stepdown Nurse. I will be starting on February 3rd, and I'd love to hear the advice and experiences of current Pediatric Stepdown nurses in preparation for starting at the unit.

If you wouldn't mind: What are some things that I should definitely understand as a New Grad Pediatric Nurse? What are some things that you wish you knew starting off? What are some things that I should know, but didn't ask for?

Thank you for your time!

[stephaniebarea]

I am a new(ish) grad to a peds stepdown unit too! I'd say one important thing to understand is that you are going to have so many different interactions with parents. Some will never come see their child, whereas others don't even sleep at night because they are so attentive to their child. A lot of parents are very protective of their kid, some are nervous wrecks, some will cry. 18 month olds to 3 year olds are tough. They have stranger danger and are terribly afraid of you no matter what you do. You really just have to kind of earn their trust with toys or movies and just talking to them. Venipunctures on infants are not easy at all. I would say it's best to practice on infants when parents are not around so that you don't feel so pressured, so make sure to tell your colleagues to let you know if they needs labs or to start an IV. You'll quickly learn how to make formula and feed babies. You'll also become an expert diaper changer. Cardiac defects are pretty common, so listen out for heart murmurs. You won't really know what you're listening for at first so have someone help you. Learn to feel fontanels and brachial pulses. It's gonna be so much fun and you will learn so much. If it's like my hospital, you might do cross training in PICU too, and you'll learn lots there.