Pediatric BMT program

i work in peds bmt. part of my orientation was on an adult bmt unit. i didin't find it to be too different- you get used to the doses, you tend to memorize the mg/kg of the antivirals, antifungals, and your other everyday meds (even the chemo, but i guess that's how you dose it in adults to (or by m2)). the diseases are of course more age specific- all, neuroblastoma, wilms, ewings, scids and anemias. and the prognoses are different with kids (i believe).

of course the parent thing is a big deal. but as far as the kids go, they usually do wahtever they can to keep acting like kids, they don't lay around and feel sorry for themselves (unless they're really doing bad).

where i work, we get a lot of teens, and early 20's, so that may not be a huge stretch for you.

hi renerian

As you know im a paeds nurse never done adults but in my experience you have to watch the docs when it comes to writing up prescription charts, most of them come from adults and write up adult doses!! i tend to know what doses they should have as working in paeds you have to work out meds by the weight of the child. It can be complicated at times. if i think a dose looks too much or too little and im not sure i look it up and then if its wrong chat with doc.

some parents can be a challenge as they want things done now! but on the whole are very good. Children are wonderful to work with and as someone said if they are sick you know and if not they feel better you know too. i just love paeds nursing! :)

Thanks for the input everyone. I was glad to see some responses. I will wait and see if anyone else responds. I have done some teenagers so anything after 15 would be okay. I also want to contact the hospital and see if they have any classes for people changing from adult BMT to pediatric BMT.

renerian

Believe it or not I have not called the children's hospital yet. Rather apprehensive. I am hearing that the age of the hospitals clients is climbing as posted in another post here.

Thanks again for your posts,

renerian

I finally got up the courage and applied to the hem/onc/bmt unit at the children's hospital. Now the wait starts. I think I am going to take some time to bone up on peds/peds dosing.

renerian

I started BMT on an adult unit and then went to peds BMT. The transition was not difficult at all. Once you are in peds you may have a patient a few months old up to say, age 18-20. So, there is still a wide range of dosages with in the "pediatric" range.

I do think working with parents is one thing that is different. No bad, just different. I tend to be pretty laid back and get along with everyone. But, some nurses and/or parents really try to avoid each other.

Kids tend to do better than adults. Not get as sick or as stressed out. I used to listen to women undergoing BMT talk about worrys they had. Who was taking care of the kids...were they getting homework done, are the bills getting paid, was her hubby getting to worn out and on and on and on. With kids it more just the here and now. They tend not to know how sick they are easier to entertain and make happy.