NICU...Now what?

[Jinx322]

I'm in my final semester of nursing school and its preceptorship time. I've had my heart set on peds but due to a few issues with the site I picked my instructor place my on a NICU floor. Not what I was expecting. During my maternity rotation I shadowed a nurse 3 times on the same NICU floor that I am placed on and didn't have the best experience. The nurses didn't want me to touch anything or anyone (understandably so) but I wanted this to be hands on. I'll make the most of it, learn from it, and carry on; its only 10 shifts anyway.

What should I expect to see during a 12-hour shift? Are there any things I should start looking into now? Any meds/labs that i'll see all the time? HELP!!

Any insight into the NICU world would be much appreciated. :)

[RainDreamer, BSN, RN]

You sound just like me! NICU was the least of my choices, and yet I got stuck with it for my preceptorship. Here I am now though ..... over 8 years of being a NICU nurse!

Hmm, I think I wrote a journal about my preceptorship experiences. Let me see if I can find it.

You'll do fine! :)

[RainDreamer, BSN, RN]

That was wild to go back and read, lol. Not sure if it will help you .... it's pretty wordy, but it was my experience.

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/my-preceptorship-experience-101395.html

[Jinx322]

That was wild to go back and read lol. Not sure if it will help you .... it's pretty wordy, but it was my experience. https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/my-preceptorship-experience-101395.html

Thank you. My first day is Monday the 28th. I met my preceptor and she seems really nice. I'll definitely make the most out of each day and look forward to learning new things.

[staycalm]

I hope you had a great first day. In my unit, our "capstone" students as we call them, are treated completely different than students in regular clinical rotation. I do think it will all depend on your preceptor, so that's great she seems nice! Our capstone students are treated more like a new-hire (vs I hope you are able to learn as much as you can in 2-3 shifts as a 3rd level student). So, for capstones initially it's watch & learn, but then soon it it's hands-on with preceptor at your side, then emerging independence.

My love in nursing school was OB. I became a tech (cna) in my NICU by default my last year of nursing school. I was NOT in love, I for sure thought "I'd NEVER work as a nurse in the unit when I graduate". Something changed in my heart prior to graduation, and I'm 13+years now into a very rewarding RN experience. Keep an open mind! You never know!!!! :)