Pediatrics or NICU??

[heartalexis]

Hi everyone! I am a nurse of 1.5 years and while I've been a nurse for a short time, I work on a very challenging and rigorous unit which is trauma/adult med-surg and have gained a lot of experience in little bit of time. I am wanting to leave and join the world of kids and babies as I love kids and have always enjoyed working with them. This week, I have two interviews set up. One for the NICU and one for the pediatric hematology/oncology unit. I currently have a friend in peds and she has told me she LOVES her job. I understand everyone is different but she says her manager is very kind, supportive, and sticks up for her employees. They also don't have a rationing shortage of important equipment. Where I work now, I have no support from the management or PCAs (and I promise, it's not just for me but all the nurses on my unit), HEAVY patient loads (up to 6-7 its, most times half of the them are total care patients and the PCAs don't help clean/turn), and lack of equipment which is just so frustrating to me. I am very burnt out where I am and I want to try something new. I am completely open to both peds and NICU but I have no idea where I want to go! Is there any nurses out there in these specialities that can tell me what it's like on these units?

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

On 1/17/2022 at 12:53 PM, heartalexis said:

HEAVY patient loads (up to 6-7 its, most times half of the them are total care patients

Patient load is 2-3 patients and all patients are total care (obviously),unless parents are involved. I have never hurt my back turning a 600 gram baby and their butt is a lot easier to clean than an adult.