NICU vs. Peds Med/Surg/Step-down

[nurse-samie]

i have been offered the opportunity to go from an adult neuro floor to my dream job as a pediatric nurse, my ultimate goal would be to work in the PICU or the Peds Hemo/Onc Unit. Unfortunately at this time there are no fellowships being offered for either floor. so i have been given the choice to either go to the Peds med-surg/step-down floor or the NICU.

Im unsure which to choose that will help me gain the best experience to then transition to either PICU or Peds hemo/Onc. This is where i would truly appreciate some insight from any and all nurses and esp. those that work in the Pediatric field.

with the med/surg floor i feel that I will get a wide variety of of children of all ages and with different Dx, but i will not get the ICU/critical experience

with the NICU (level 3 nursery) i feel that i would get a great experience in the ICU setting but will only work with a very specific pt. population

i dont know what to do, and I keep going back and forth .

I thank you truly in advance! :)

[~PedsRN~, BSN, RN]

:) Hi! Welcome to the wonderful world of acute care pediatrics. :)

First of all, yuck on working hem/onc. HA!

It's hard for me to give you advice because I do not know what your hospital is like. I work in a very large children's hospital, and our med/surg and progressive floors are full of seriously ill children. I work on a med/surg floor - so we see it all - and honestly, I take care of progressive level kids that in a smaller outlying hospital would be in the PICU in a heartbeat.

We have nurses that have left my floor for the PICU. :) Crazy people.

The thing with NICU is it is very specific. You will not see the stuff in the NICU that you will see out on the floor. And honestly, the stuff you see in the PICU will be nastier cases of what you see on the floor, if that makes sense. Working on the floor you will develop those critical assessment skills which are 100% unique to pediatrics (kids crump in entirely different ways than your adults).

I am never bored. I do not take care of the sniffles and the coughs. I take care of really sick kids. I get to watch them come to the floor sick as snot, and walk out happy and smiling (usually). Such is the awesomeness of youth. I love my job.

Oh, and our hem/onc floor? Is also a med/surg floor. They get our overflow when they have rooms and we are full, and they also get stuff like diabetes, psychs, and clean surgical kids. We also get cancer kids on our floors - they have to have the surgeries done before they can start their treatments, you know? :)

I'm not sure I've helped you at all, but feel free to PM me.

I've always been a peds nurse and have no plans EVER working with those yucky adults.