NICU duties

[BlaineCM]

What are the daily duties of a RN in the NICU?

[NeoNurseTX, RN]

I wish my unit had decent vent pain mgt/sedation. Saw an RN I was working with get yelled at because she gave a prn dose of versed to an agitated vent baby.. they supposedly kept versed on the MAR to make it look like we had pain mgt but if we give it, the attending gets mad because "the baby needs to breathe". I had that patient tonight and I noticed there were NO pain or agitation meds on the MAR..and the kid was wild all night. If you document anything over a 0 on the pain assessment, you have to do an intervention, but when the baby is already contained, stimulation decreased, etc, there's not really much else to do but meds and when no one will order them...

[texas2007, BSN, RN]

I wish my unit had decent vent pain mgt/sedation. Saw an RN I was working with get yelled at because she gave a prn dose of versed to an agitated vent baby.. they supposedly kept versed on the MAR to make it look like we had pain mgt but if we give it, the attending gets mad because "the baby needs to breathe". I had that patient tonight and I noticed there were NO pain or agitation meds on the MAR..and the kid was wild all night. If you document anything over a 0 on the pain assessment, you have to do an intervention, but when the baby is already contained, stimulation decreased, etc, there's not really much else to do but meds and when no one will order them...

She's a maniac....maniac...lol

[SteveNNP, MSN, NP]

I wish my unit had decent vent pain mgt/sedation. Saw an RN I was working with get yelled at because she gave a prn dose of versed to an agitated vent baby.. they supposedly kept versed on the MAR to make it look like we had pain mgt but if we give it, the attending gets mad because "the baby needs to breathe". I had that patient tonight and I noticed there were NO pain or agitation meds on the MAR..and the kid was wild all night. If you document anything over a 0 on the pain assessment, you have to do an intervention, but when the baby is already contained, stimulation decreased, etc, there's not really much else to do but meds and when no one will order them...

When this happens to me, I put it in my hospital's medical event monitoring system. It gets sent to the unit manager, charge nurses, children's hospital administrators and medical director. Hopefully when they see these over and over again, something will change. For the most part, the NNPs and MDs will order what I want. It's the other RNs that need to be more proactive when it comes to pain.

[cmc2008]

Hi!

I'm a new grad and I have just been hired for a position on the NICU. I'm so excited, its where I have always wanted to work...my :heartbeat "Dream Job" :heartbeat. I was just wondering if you could give me a few pointers about starting on the NICU as a new grad? You seem to have alot of experience and I would appreciate anything that would help.

Thanks

[mjick]

Amazing! I am nursing student graduating in December. I am a parent of a 26 weeker, 1 lb 13 ounces. My son is now 2 1/2. Since I have been on the other side of the realm of NICU environment, I was much interested to read all the technical stuffs that go on. I have experienced first hand what its like to be around the NICU staff since my son was in the NICU for three months. Ever since I started nursing school, I have this passion and determination to start my career in NICU. I have a job interview next month and so excited about it. Thanks for sharing what its like to work in NICU. That's a new perspective I sure hope I can experience once I start my career in nursing.

[NJNICUCCRN]

a little scarey that you would need a morphine/versed cocktail. is this a standing order????

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

This is a great thread! I just got word back from a NICU position I applied for. Would the "day in the life" be much different now that 5 years have gone by and technology and (presumably) research has advanced another 5 years?