Preparing to be a NICU Nurse

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Hi everyone! I will be graduating in May 2019 and currently work in the NICU as a PCT and have been there for almost 3 years. I am pretty much a shoo-in for an RN position once I graduate :) May I add that I will be the first and only male NICU nurse in my unit haha ;)

Anyway, I want to prepare as much as I can until then and was wondering what you recommend I use to better prepare myself:

1. Any specific books?

2. Any specific online courses?

3. Any associations I should join? (NANN?)

4. Any certification you think would be beneficial? (ACLS, PALS, NRP, etc.)

Any advice you have to offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Adrian

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Merenstein & Gardner or Core curriculum for neonatal are the go to intro books.

NRP is usually part of orientation so probably don't need to do it before hand especially if you are a shoo in. PALS & ACLS are not used in NICU so not necessary.

Try to learn some basic knowledge about breastfeeding.

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Specializes in NICU.

We need more men in the NICU. I am outnumbered 150:1 in my (300 RNs) unit. We only have 2 male nurses on the unit. I work dayshift and another guy works nightshift. I work with 35-40 females each shift.

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Thank you!

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Specializes in ICU.
On 11/17/2018 at 5:00 AM, NICU Guy said:

We need more men in the NICU. I am outnumbered 150:1 in my (300 RNs) unit. We only have 2 male nurses on the unit. I work dayshift and another guy works nightshift. I work with 35-40 females each shift.

There are very few black females in NICU let alone men. Sad because there is a major disparity that exist in the NICU with care black american infants. The research I read recently suggested such a thing exist.

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Specializes in NICU.
4 hours ago, Wolf at the Door said:

There are very few black females in NICU let alone men. Sad because there is a major disparity that exist in the NICU with care black american infants. The research I read recently suggested such a thing exist.

It must exist outside of my world. We have many African american babies and only a couple African American nurses (out of 300 nurses). Every baby is treated the same, they are celebrated when they go home and mourned when they pass.

Can you give examples of the major disparities in the care? Are they not being fed, left to cry for hours, not receiving the proper medical care? It is hard to believe that you would have an entire unit of racist white nurses and doctors, unless you are talking about a six bed NICU with 2 nurses per shift.

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On 3/28/2019 at 7:22 AM, NICU Guy said:

It must exist outside of my world. We have many African american babies and only a couple African American nurses (out of 300 nurses). Every baby is treated the same, they are celebrated when they go home and mourned when they pass.

Can you give examples of the major disparities in the care? Are they not being fed, left to cry for hours, not receiving the proper medical care? It is hard to believe that you would have an entire unit of racist white nurses and doctors, unless you are talking about a six bed NICU with 2 nurses per shift.

I did a quick search online out of curiosity and here is one study explaining it a little.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2728461

Reuters had a decent summary of it

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-nicu-race-idUSKCN1R62AV

"NICU quality was determined based on nine factors, such as infant mortality during birth hospitalization, health-care associated bacterial or fungal infection, a timely eye exam, and chronic lung disease.

When the researchers analyzed the quality of hospitals that the very low birthweight babies ended up, they found that minorities tended to end up at different hospitals than whites and that black babies were more likely to be treated at a lower-quality NICU than white babies.

Edwards doesn't know yet why black infants are more likely to end up at a lower quality NICU and says that is a topic for future research. "Black people don't always end up at the closest hospital to them," she said. "And we don't necessarily know why. Certainly there are a number of theories. It could be related to insurance and which hospitals accept which insurance. Where deliveries occur could depend on whether a physician has (is authorized) to deliver at a particular hospital."'

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Specializes in ICU.
On 3/28/2019 at 7:22 AM, NICU Guy said:

It must exist outside of my world. We have many African american babies and only a couple African American nurses (out of 300 nurses). Every baby is treated the same, they are celebrated when they go home and mourned when they pass.

Can you give examples of the major disparities in the care? Are they not being fed, left to cry for hours, not receiving the proper medical care? It is hard to believe that you would have an entire unit of racist white nurses and doctors, unless you are talking about a six bed NICU with 2 nurses per shift.

A big factor in outcome is prenatal care gap.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28905367/

Older post. A couple of African American nurses out of 300 sounds very Low.

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i have a job shadowing interview at a hospital i really really want to work at, i am not sure if this is standard procedure or if this is phase 2 of my interview. Please give me any advice.

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On 11/17/2018 at 6:44 AM, jennylee321 said:

Merenstein & Gardner or Core curriculum for neonatal are the go to intro books.

NRP is usually part of orientation so probably don't need to do it before hand especially if you are a shoo in. PALS & ACLS are not used in NICU so not necessary.

Try to learn some basic knowledge about breastfeeding.

I'm looking to buy one of these books (my bank account def can't handle both). Any recommendation between the two? They both look great so I can't decide.

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Specializes in Adult ICU/PICU/NICU.
On ‎11‎/‎17‎/‎2018 at 8:00 AM, NICU Guy said:

We need more men in the NICU. I am outnumbered 150:1 in my (300 RNs) unit. We only have 2 male nurses on the unit. I work dayshift and another guy works nightshift. I work with 35-40 females each shift.

We need more men in nursing period! I have been retired from critical care nursing for ten years so I hope things are better now.

My last job in the hospital was working contingent in the PICU and would float to NICU as needed. We had a 45 bed NICU (combined with step down) and a 30 bed PICU. There were no male nurses in the NICU and I think there were only 4 in the PICU. Back when I was an MICU nurse (this is now bordering on ancient history...1960s-early 2000s) most of the men I worked with put their time in and then went onto CRNA school. We had very few who stayed bedside nurses. Its been so long since I worked there that I don't think I know a single nurse I worked with to call to ask.

Up until last year, I worked as a substitute assistant school nurse a few days a month. (still on the role but doubt if I'll go back for anything more than helping with screenings in the fall and then hang up the cap for good....the ole gray mare just aint' what she used to be...). We have only ONE male school RN...and I love working with him so much. He's an ex army nurse with a no nonsense attitude and a wicked since of humor who is so much fun to work with. My best friends at work were always the men.

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