NICU nurses...

I'm assuming you're talking about Neonatal ICU, so I am moving this thread to that forum.

If that assumption is in error, post and I'll move it to the appropriate place.

For those of you who are nurses in the NICU..what do you believe to be the most difficult/challenging part of your job?

Personally, just having moved to a new unit in an enormous teaching hospital, I would say it's having to continually be vigilant in protecting your patients from all the doctors and other clinicians trying to care for them. It's no longer good enough to trust the doctors. You have to have the knowledge and gall to speak up when something's not right, or in the pts best interest.

Also, as I don't speak more than 4 sentences in Spanish, it is very challenging in this day and age to have a huge population whose entire knowledge of the English language consists of "hello" and "yes.":o