NICU or PICU?

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Hi all, I am a newly qualified Austrian born, Polish trained nurse. I plan to move abroad (to Austria, Switzerland or the UK, haven't decided yet) within 2 years.

Obviously I'm very inexperienced, but I liked best my practicals on the NICU, PICU and as a nurse anesthetist in the OR. And now I have a huge dilemma about choosing my first work place. Which of the three should I choose? Which will teach me the most and will look best in my CV?

Eventually I think I'll want to work in the NICU, but right now I don't really feel up to performing venipuncture or other procedures on a tiny preemie. My skills aren't up there yet.

Of course the hospitals say that they will teach me etc, but I'm still worried. Oh and I can get any of the 3 jobs in any hospital straight away, we have a severe nursing shortage and I was a good student. Please help!

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Specializes in NICU.

You ask "what will look the best on my CV." Does this imply that you have future plans? What do you want to be doing in 5-10 years? Do you want to be a nurse practitioner or a clinical nurse specialist (if they have that role in Europe, I'm not sure).

For me, it was simple. I like the tiny humans. I do not like the big ones. So I chose NICU and have never regretted it. I had never stuck anyone for an IV prior to my first job either, so I don't think that should bar you from it.

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I'm not 100% sure what I will want to do, that's the problem! So I'd like a really diverse and well rounded first job, one that would open the most doors... We do have an NNP role in Europe, in the UK specifically, but I don't think they have a smuch autonomy as you do.

I love babies too, I guess I'm just scared of my own inexperience as a nurse around them. Was NICU your first nursing job?

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Specializes in NICU.

Yeah, I know they have NP role in the UK (although you don't need a separate license for it and it doesn't seem very standardized), but not sure about the CNS role over there.

NICU was my first job as a RN at age 22 and I don't want to do anything else. You can do it, don't let yourself think that you can't. But if you want to "open doors" (but to what??) then you can go into another field for awhile.

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I'm not sure myself as to what doors they would be. Oh well I guess if I'm not happy I'll always be able to switch.

Thank you for the encouragement, I've decided to apply to the NICU of the best children's hospital in Poland :) Hopefully they'll teach me a lot!

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I think any of those routes will be wonderful for future opportunities. I am pretty biased towards the PICU, as that's where I started after I graduated and I learned more than I could have every imagined. When my husband and I moved, my PICU experience opened several doors for me. You get the experience of working with a variety of age groups (even infants and on the rare occasion, adults with special needs) and you will see everything from post-op instabilities to major traumas to post-transplant pts. I am comfortable with assessing a person of any age after that experience and, if you have a passion for pediatrics, I highly recommend it.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

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Specializes in NICU/Telephone Triage.

I worked in the NICU for 25 years. I didn't like PICU because the patients were sometimes older and bigger, and I didn't like to see any kind of child abuse patients. I preferred the tiny NICU patients and seeing them grow and go home. A lot of PICU patients are more chronic and sad from what I observed.

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...so I went to visit a newly built University Pediatric Hospital and when they showed me their ICU unit they swayed me :D It's the nicest I've ever seen as a student, lots of room and the ratio of 1:1 / 2:1 is actually enforced. They also have a small NICU section since their Neonatal unit is not yet ready.

I'm starting on the 1st of September and couldn't be more excited!

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