PICU nurse wanting to transition to NICU

Gompers, BSN, RN · Jun 9, 2006

Find a NICU that will train you almost like you're a new grad. You'll want an orientation program that includes both classroom learning and at least two months of hands-on work with a single preceptor. You might not need that long, but if they at least offer it that will help. You already have a very strong knowledge and skill base, but there is a lot more to learn. Preemies themselves are very unique! So as long as you find a program that will give you the proper training, you should be good.

If you want the pros of NICU nursing, check out this thread...

https://allnurses.com/forums/f33/poll-what-do-you-love-about-nicu-101076.html

The cons of NICU nursing...well, all parents are very stressed when their kids are in the hospital. But these babies, for the most part, have never been home. It's very rough on the parents - childbirth was supposed to be a joyous event! When it all hits the fan, they are devastated and experience a complete loss of control of the situation. They can be very challenging to work with sometimes.

One con that comes up a lot in the NICU is that there is a lot of ethical stuff to deal with. There are many ethical dilemmas in the NICU. We are able to save such small and/or sick babies...sometimes you have to wonder if we're doing the right thing. Remember, these are babies, and it's "easy to be a baby" as we say. It's much harder to decide if that baby is going to have any quality of life. It's easy to eat, poop, cry, and sleep. It's NORMAL for a baby to do this. But we never know if that's ALL that baby is EVER going to be able to do, you know? Whereas in PICU, it might be a bit easier to see if a child is going to recover from illness or injury because you can compare their current state to their baseline or what they should be doing developmentally at their age. Am I making sense?

Another con for the NICU, especially after working in the PICU, is that there is much less variety. We see the same stuff over and over again. It is challenging, yes, but after all the stuff you saw in the PICU, you might get a little bored.

However, NICU technology is such a new science that while the disorders themselves don't change much, our treatment of those disorders is ever changing. I've only been in the NICU for 8 years and it is already so different! We're using different medications, different ventilators, different protocols, different products, differernt incubators, etc. It seems at least once a year we get something new and need to be inserviced on it. Plus if you work at a teaching hospital there will be studies going on in the unit and that can be very exciting.

Welcome to our side!