NICU to another specialty

preemieRNkate, RN · Jun 14, 2008

I've had coworkers leave NICU and go to other areas. A few to PICU, L&D and the OR. The nurses that went to the OR went through an extensive orientation, a year long peri-op program specifically for experienced nurses from other areas. Any time you go to a new area, whether you are a new grad or a nurse with years of experience, you should get an orientation.

I would say that it might be easier to transfer within a facility rather than try to get hired into another hospital in an area that you have no experience in, but I could be wrong. I've never tried any other areas, and I really have no desire to. Does the hospital that you are at now have any kind of new grad residency program? Where I work, we have a 1 year ICU residency. New grads can rotate through the ICUs, and at the end of the year they put in for where they want to work. Some do all adult ICUs, some do just NICU/PICU and some do everything. Maybe that would be something you could look into?

SteveNNP, MSN, NP · Jun 14, 2008

I am a pre-nursing student and I know it's early to be thinking about specialties I am very interested in working in the NICU. I currently volunteer in a Level III NICU and I know that they hire new grads twice a year. My concern is that from reading this site and talking to various people it seems that once people get a job in the NICU they don't tend to leave. I realize that it's probably because they really enjoy their jobs, however I wonder if it's not also because after working in such a specialized area it is difficult to get hired for another specialty. Can anyone shed some light as to whether or not it is advisable for a new grad to go straight into the NICU if they are inclined to want to try something else later on?
Thanks!!!

I would agree that most NICU nurses stay in NICU because we're happy with that field. I think we get a little spoiled, too...

In this day and age of a looming nursing shortage, any unit that hires new grads will accept a nurse with NICU experience. You will probably just have to do a longer orientation, and it may be a lot of relearning what you forgot about adults in NS. I work NICU/PICU, and transferred to the ER for about 6 mos before returning to NICU. I was able to get the job easily, but missed NICU. I was able to function fine in ER, it just wasn't my niche.

Most nurses need to go through a few jobs before finding their "niche." I had already found mine, it just took a short trip to the ER to realize it.

When you get to the clinical portion of your education, you'll get a better feel for what interests you.

crazybusyRN · Jun 14, 2008

NICU was my first specialty (for 3 years), but I found that I wanted to "branch out" a bit, so I went to a peds CICU. Because a lot of pediatric heart disease is congenital, it's still a lot of babies, but because adult cardiologists are sometimes wary of congenital heart disease, we get patients up into their 40s!

I didn't have any trouble getting this job, and the NICU skills help... I can always expect my pager to go off with lots of questions if we get a kiddo little enough to be in an isolette. The tradeoff is that I ask lots of questions of my coworkers with adult experience. The first time I had to use a lift to move a patient was definately an adventure!

It can be done, and I found that orienting to my second job was challenging, but not as much as the first time, because I could ask for what I needed more clearly. Now I'm the preceptor!

Hope this helps...