New Grad- Peds vs. Adults

Nurses General Nursing

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Hey guys,

I'm a nursing student and will be graduating by May with a BSN. I am very interested in working in pediatrics, but I feel like I am most comfortable with adults - because of the majority of lectures, labs, and clinical being within the adult world. I also have been a nurse tech on an adult Ortho/MedSurg floor for about a year and a half, so I am even more familiar with adults. With that being said, I'm still more interested in working in pediatrics and get excited thinking about how I could work with kids. But I also get really nervous and scared, because I am not as familiar and feel like I could make a mistake. The age range makes me a little nervous too, with caring for babies, toddlers, and elementary age children... all having different vital sign ranges, etc. With adults, its usually plain and simple... 12-20 RR, 60-100 HR, you know what I mean.

I guess my question is... Should I still go for it? Do you think orientation will make a huge difference in how I feel now and how I will feel afterwards? Orientation should be around 8 weeks or more. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! :)

Thank you!

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Specializes in Cath/EP lab, CCU, Cardiac stepdown.
Hey guys,

I'm a nursing student and will be graduating by May with a BSN. I am very interested in working in pediatrics, but I feel like I am most comfortable with adults - because of the majority of lectures, labs, and clinical being within the adult world. I also have been a nurse tech on an adult Ortho/MedSurg floor for about a year and a half, so I am even more familiar with adults. With that being said, I'm still more interested in working in pediatrics and get excited thinking about how I could work with kids. But I also get really nervous and scared, because I am not as familiar and feel like I could make a mistake. The age range makes me a little nervous too, with caring for babies, toddlers, and elementary age children... all having different vital sign ranges, etc. With adults, its usually plain and simple... 12-20 RR, 60-100 HR, you know what I mean.

I guess my question is... Should I still go for it? Do you think orientation will make a huge difference in how I feel now and how I will feel afterwards? Orientation should be around 8 weeks or more. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! :)

Thank you!

You gotta start somewhere. No one goes in feeling like they know everything

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Specializes in Pediatrics, NICU.

Towards the end of nursing school, I had started to feel more comfortable with the idea of working with adults because of school and my clinical experiences, even though I went in with a plan to work in pediatrics. Then I did an internship in pediatrics right at the end of school and it was a nice reminder that I really did want to take care of children. Is there a way you can do a clinical rotation or internship before graduating so you can see how you really feel about it?

I think if you really want to do pediatrics, go for it! You should be nervous about making a mistake because kids are smaller and less tolerant of med errors. As for learning things like vital signs and developmental milestones, those things become second nature after a while. I LOVED the age range when I worked on pediatric medsurg. My favorite nights were when I had a baby, a toddler, a preschooler, a school-aged child, and a teenager on my assignment. A good orientation should make you feel better. It does take a while (read: at least a year) to feel comfortable as a new grad, no matter where you work. Good luck! Don't let fear keep you from doing something that you really want to do. :)

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Thank you NICUNurseEliz that was very encouraging :) I appreciate your response!

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Specializes in Pedi.

Where did you do your senior practicum? Doing it in pediatrics would be helpful.

I have been a pediatric nurse for 9 years and never intend on working with adults. The change in VS ranges isn't a big deal, you learn them. I also love the range of patients. In my current job, I deal with all ages from newborns to young adults (people with things like cystic fibrosis or congenital heart disease who there are no providers in the adult world for).

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery.

Maybe you could do your capstone in a peds ER department. Would this be possible for you? That would be an excellent oppurtunity to practice essential RN skills on your desired specialty population.

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