New Grad NICU Support Thread

Specialties NICU

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Calling all New Grad NICU nurses...thanks to a thread started by NurseDevonL, we have decided to start a support group. Hopefully some of our more experienced NICU nurses will look in every so often to lend some support and knowledge as well. Welcome!

niculove:yeah:

Good luck followmydream!

Welcome precious2himrnbsn!

Hope everyone else is doing well! :yeah:

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Specializes in NICU.

My first day is next week, so my countdown has begun. My daughter is excited for me to start work too, because she will be going to 'school'. She talks about it all the time.

I found out that we are getting copies of the Merenstein & Gardener book that is so highly recommended on this board, so I'm glad that I didn't buy it. I have a 2008 neofax, but I'm waiting to see if we are getting new copies of that too before I go look for a new one myself.

I can't recall if this has been asked, but what area of the country is everyone in? I'm in New England.

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Specializes in NICU.

my dream has come true! I was just offered a position in the NICU! I had given up because my interview was so long ago, but I just received the call. the hospital trainings and NICU classes start next week and I couldn't be more excited!! :D:D:D:D

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Specializes in NICU.

Congratulations!:anpom:

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Specializes in NICU, PICU.

Hey, I am still in school but hoping for a NICU area job after graduations - I live in the Kansas City Area. Any tips on what hospitals look for? GPA? Any advice would be great!!

Thanks!!

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Specializes in NICU & OB/GYN.

Hello new grad nurses...

I am completing school this term and want to try and get into NICU for final practicum..I found this thread and enjoyed reading everyone stories. Now that it's been awhile for some who've originally posted...anyone feel it was too challenging to start out in?? Maybe try another route if you could??

I am trying to find if this is a fit for me. I always hated the floor for each rotation. The only one I didn't mind was Maternity/child health but I find what gets to me already on the floor is wanting to give more of my time when I cannot and those critical pts that need me most get ignored b/c I am busy giving bed baths and cleaning the room for to the stable ones. This is based on time only on adult units..so maybe it's different on peds?

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I am also still attending school for my prerequisites. When done, I would like to work in pediatrics, L&D, the nursery, or the NICU. Do anyone know the best hospitals to work in, for the state of Illinois?

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I start orientation a week from Monday and I'm starting to get nervous! And very excited of course!

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Just wanted to wish you all good luck!

While I still consider myself a "New Grad" I am realizing as the new grads start on our unit this month that I'm really not anymore! I started orientation a year ago this month in a Level IIIc and got off orientation in Feb. Just this past week I had a very sick "pre-ecmo" PPHN-er. Oscillator, nitric, dopa, epi, fluid boluses, blood, bicarb, frequent ABG's, glucoses and other labs, frequent vent changes, pre-ecmo tests (head ultrasound & echocardiogram), lots of MD's, residents, fellows and other specialists in and out, plus spanish speaking only dad (I don't speak spanish) to be taken care of. At the end of the day I was proud to realize I had handled her all by myself, not only that, kept her off ecmo and in much better condition then when I had started my shift, and really hadn't needed too much outside advice from more experienced nurses.

It was a fun and exciting day and I'm sure you all will do well and get there too!

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Specializes in NICU-Level III.

Hey there! I am a NICU nurse in the KC area. I would HIGHLY recommend KU or Childrens. They are the most respected hospitals/NICU's in the area and care for the most critical babies. At KU you have to have a GPA >3.2 and I know at CMH you don't have to have a certain GPA.

Both are really great places, just depends if you want to be in a big NICU (80 bed unit) or smaller (30 bed-unit). Best of luck to you and let me know if you have any more questions! :)

Oops, wrong post....

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Specializes in NICU-Level III.
Hey, I am still in school but hoping for a NICU area job after graduations - I live in the Kansas City Area. Any tips on what hospitals look for? GPA? Any advice would be great!!

Thanks!!

Hey there! I am a NICU nurse in the KC area. I would HIGHLY recommend KU or Childrens. They are the most respected hospitals/NICU's in the area and care for the most critical babies. At KU you have to have a GPA >3.2 and I know at CMH you don't have to have a certain GPA.

Both are really great places, just depends if you want to be in a big NICU (80 bed unit) or smaller (30 bed-unit). Best of luck to you and let me know if you have any more questions!

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Specializes in MSN, FNP-BC.
Hello new grad nurses...

I am completing school this term and want to try and get into NICU for final practicum..I found this thread and enjoyed reading everyone stories. Now that it's been awhile for some who've originally posted...anyone feel it was too challenging to start out in?? Maybe try another route if you could??

I am trying to find if this is a fit for me. I always hated the floor for each rotation. The only one I didn't mind was Maternity/child health but I find what gets to me already on the floor is wanting to give more of my time when I cannot and those critical pts that need me most get ignored b/c I am busy giving bed baths and cleaning the room for to the stable ones. This is based on time only on adult units..so maybe it's different on peds?

The neonatal world is a complete 180 from the adult world. I came from the adult world as a tech in ICU and SAC level units and when I got hired on into the NICU as a nurse, it was culture shock.

I've been there 3 months now and am still getting used to the are and how things work and are done because of the difference. It's been a slow transition for me becasue I have all of these habits from the adult world that I have to let go of because they don't apply here.

I would say that if this is where you want to be, go for it. In my unit, they didn't require any extra neonatal experience. I had never set foot inside a NICU until I started my orientation on the unit.

I think that any area you start out in as a new grad is going to be difficult. Each unit serves a different population with different diagoses. No two units are exactly alike.

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