minniemiteRN

I was just wondering what everyone's policy is on wearing jewelry in the NICU. When I first started we were only able to wear our wedding bands, no watch or stones of any kind due to the grooves where germs could be harbored. Now, we are unable to we...

Its great to hear your boys are doing so well. Thanks for the update:)! The haberman is my fav for cleft palate and other feeding difficulties. It would be nice to hear how you liked/disliked it.

We had a 28wk trisomy 18 born to parents after several failed pregnancies and stillbirths. After extensive repeated counseling throughout course of stay parents wanted EVERYTHING done including HFOV and multiple drips at one point. Ended up going hom...

I unfortunately came across this book by accident while I was pg with my first and working as a new nurse in my large unit. We had just received a "funny" kid and were looking up his symptoms/characteristics. Unfortunately I was already on edge due t...

Sorry guys, this really isn't a NICU specific topic but I haven't posted anywhere but here before so I hope you don't mind... Question is: Do you have a weekend program and if so what are the rules/benefits? The reason why I'm asking is our program i...

But you are able to take the PTO days you earn? See, the problem with my units program is not that we don't earn the appropriate amount of PTO, it is that we are only allowed to take 3 days a quarter and it is also a first come first serve, seniorit...

Exactly! How involved is your infectious disease dept in writing this protocol? Something tells me that if they were to get more involved and do what ours did when our "whiners" started up and break out the black light they would be able to kill tw...

I have two words to say about false nails in the NICU...NO WAY!!! Our staff are not allowed to wear them under any circumstance and random nail checks are done by coordinators to make sure that our nails are the correct length and that we are not we...

I'm so glad your daughter is doing well and your experience in the NICU was a good one. Congrats to you for getting into LVN school!:yelclap: We have 2 LPN's working in our unit that have been with us for 15+ yrs and are no longer hiring LPN's. My re...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who see's it that way. It would be a little hard not to have any PTO days for the first 6 mos in your unit though...but you don't have to stick to all the other unreasonable rules. Well hopefully they will offer you a we...

We switched to computer charting from paper about a year ago much to our dismay. We are "supposed" to be charting as we go but our charting system is Mckesson and it is VERY SLOW for one and two our keyboards do not have covers and I don't even want ...

Staff already are have no jewelry; now we just need to work on parents and vistors.

Actually we are seeing more and more MRSA as a community wide infection, not just solely a nosocomial infections anymore.:uhoh21: We swab each new admits nares as well as their parents for staph aureus non resistant and MRSA. In the last year we have...

My favorite type of patient to take care of has changed. When I first came into the NICU I loved the high acuity of a micropreemie. I enjoyed taking care of the babies on the high frequency vents and multiple drips. Now however, after taking care of ...

Thanks for the replies! I agree with the policy...just find it strange that parents and other visitors are able to wear as much jewelry as they want esp. since we don't know how well they are scrubbing before they visit (there is a scrub demonstrati...

5 or 6

3 yrs and I will only go to another NICU if I must move for my husbands job. What can I say...I'm in love.

I don't know about all units but I was hired into my unit after working med surg. I also know of units hiring GN's and training them. I've been working in a level III NICU for 3 yrs and have had no lack of job opportunities. I thought at one time I w...

Sure there are draw backs, but then again there are draw backs to almost everything. Parents can be difficult and its hard to watch a baby suffer, and even harder when a baby dies...though sometimes your relieved when a baby passes so he/she is no lo...

Congrats!!! I highly recommend asking how long your orientation will be and if you will be able to extend it if you feel the need. Also find out what the nurse to pt ratios are in both levels II and III of the nsy. Don't forget to ask about pay...un...

The key here is practice makes perfect. Practice, practice, practice!! I worked in adults before coming to the NICU so I was more than a little terrified to start poking around on tiny preemie veins. I'm sorry but I don't know of any books or any edu...

I agree completely. The unit I work in offers both full and part time positions. Time and again the nurses who are full time get a grasp on things much faster and are able to work more effectively earlier on. I think it just has to do with the repeti...

Our policy is 7 days, but since it was never being followed because how do you keep track of when the last day was that you changed out we picked a day and it just so happened to be wednesday. This caused a bit of an uproar both with the tech that cl...

= Thanks... new to the site. Didn't even notice the date.

We do use Kangaroo care in our unit but unfortunately not as much as in your unit. I have seen the wonders it can do for both mother and child but it is under the nurses descretion and whether it be because of inconvinience or because they don't feel...