PICU and NICU

[amber_n_schultz]

hello,

my name is amber and i have actually been a member of allnurses.com before but i couldn't remember my user name or password. i have a few questions to ask you. i am now attending college to become a medical assistant but plan on continuing my education to become a rn. i am interested in the picu and nicu units but am having a hard time deciding which one i would be more capable of working in. at first i thought nicu would be my #1 choice because a year ago i was 5 months pregnant and lost my daughter in april. about 2 weeks ago i lost two twin boys and i was 5 and a half months along. i am a diabetic and have a disease called tuberous sclerosis. it will be difficult for me to have children. the more i do research on the picu i realize maybe that would be better for me. i would get to socialize with some of the children and hopefully make their lives a little bit easier, and help to ease atleast some of the pain they go through. i want to further my career to eventually become either a nurse practitioner or a physicians assistant. one of my questions to you is, what is the difference between nurse practitioners and physician assistants? i hope to one day be able to have my own office or work with other nurse practitioners/physicians assistants in pediatrics. so i guess the other question is would it be better for me just to start as a rn in the picu and become a pnp or start in the nicu and become a nnp? thanks.

amber

[LIZPICURN]

As a PICU nurse,

I do have some advice. I would ask to shadow a PICU and a NICU RN. Both fields are wonderful and rewarding. Yet, they are kind of like apples and oranges. THe PICU Rn's that I work with generally love the PICU, and Vice versa. I know personally, the NICU is not for me just due to my personality. Another thought is if you want to be a PA, most positions that I have seen open are in the adult field. I am a travelling nurse and I have run across one PA in a PICU. Something to look into.

Something also to think of. Your personal experiences (In which I am so sorry to hear) may have 2 different affects on you. It may be very painful for you to be in the NICU from your personal experiences, or it may be very healing to you to know that you are albe to closely relate to families that are in position of possibly losing a baby.

In the NICU you will deal with obviously prematurity, congenital anomalies, feeders and growers and much more but that is not my specialty to discuss. In the PICU you are going to deal with traumas, abuse, cancers, cardiac defects, seizures, acute sepsis, and a multiple array of surgeries. Please shadow a RN in the NICU and PICU and then a NNP or PNP to see what suits you. GOOD LUCK!

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

First of all, I am so sorry for your losses...

You don't have to decide what field of nursing you want until after you finish school, so you have plenty of time to decide. You will probably do an observation day or two in the PICU and NICU during school, so that will help. Many hospitals are no longer allowing non-students to shadow nurses because of privacy laws.

Just off the top of my head, though, working in the PICU and becoming a pediatric NP is probably going to give you more opportunities in the future if you are looking to have your own outpatient center.

[amber_n_schultz]

I will have to ask around and see if I could possibly shadow a few RN's after I graduate. I've been leaning more towards PICU because I really do want to become a NP and work in pediatrics. It would be good for me to see what its like to work in the NICU and see how I might react. Thanks for responding.