PICU or NICU

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Hi all!!

I am a general peds nurse and I am going on three years now - hard to believe goes by so fast. I enjoy what I do, especially the kids. We have newborns to age 19 for our pediatric population and then we also take care of Women after gyne surgeries as well as postpartum.

I want to be more marketable and advance in my career though and I am thinking of moving from my area (smallish town) in about two years. In your opinion is a position in the PICU or NICU more suitable to my experience? Which one would be a good transition for me and make me a little more marketable? We have a NICU at our hospital and I float there occasionally.. it does interest me but it is like a cave in there and I think that might get old fast!! Are all NICU's in a small room ?? My only experience is the hospital I am currently at and we don't have a PICU. I would really appreciate any replies... I realize PICU's and NICU's are quite different - I guess I just want to see what other experienced RN's might think..Thank you!!

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Specializes in Neonatal ICU (Cardiothoracic).

Look at all the "similar threads" at the bottom of the page. I work NICU, and can definitely tell you that they are not all "caves." We do try to maintain a womblike environment as much as possible. I would recommend PICU. You would be able to use your peds knowledge base, and add some wonderful critical care knowledge on top of it. NICU would mean almost starting over. There are a lot of things we do in NICU you won't see anywhere else in the hospital. I can say this having worked both NICU and PICU. I almost took a PICU/PCICU position this last time, but decided to stick with what I know best.... NICU

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Thank you SteveRN21, I appreciate your advice. Would a PICU hire me with general peds experience? How is the orientation usually?

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