NICU exposure in Nursing School

[Satori77]

I know all schools are different, and I do plan on asking the schools I am applying to this very question. But I am curious what everyone's experiences were in their school. How much time did you spend learning about the NICU. Did you actually get to spend any time during clinicals or a practicum in a NICU? If I can't get any time in a NICU in school, I definitely want to shadow to see what it's really like, since my only experience was as a parent, which is totally different.

[Satori77, ADN]

I spent one day shadowing in the NICU during my maternity clinical and requested 1 more day to shadow during my peds rotation. Two days.. That's it! We hardly learned about the neonatal population during NS. It only took 1 day in the NICU to know that's where I wanted to be. After getting a job in the NICU I can completely understand why NS doesn't provided more of an in depth education in NICU. NICU is a completely different breed of nursing than any other nursing speciality. If you don't work in NICU, you really don't need to know much about it. NS provides a general education on nursing. Therefore it would stand to reason that they'd predominately discuss adult care with a sprinkle of women's health, peds and nicu. Also, we weren't allowed to do a practicum in the NICu... Hopefully you'll have much more time in NICU. Good luck, I know I am biased but NICU "is" the best speciality there is in nursing!

It definitely is a different type of nursing compared to all other specialties. That's why I want as much exposure as possible.

[JCBSN76]

I got a Senior Practicum in the NICU. If you have the opportunity to do so I would highly recommend it!

[24gaDalek]

I had six hours in the NICU as part of an observation shift during my Peds rotation. It only took six hours to realize that this was where I wanted to be :)

Thankfully, there was only me and one other student in my class who wanted NICU, so I scored a senior preceptorship in the NICU that was 6 weeks long. I got hired right after graduation into the unit I precepted in.

[HyperSaurus, RN, BSN]

3 days during my Peds/OB rotation (one of them was following my baby from OB into a NICU admission--that was what really sparked my interest in NICU) and then 90 hours during my senior practicum. My experience was pretty unusual though for my school.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

LVN program, 2005 - I spent a total of one 8-hour clinical shift spent in the NICU.

ASN program, 2009 - I spent a total of one 8-hour clinical shift spent in the NICU.