LetMeNICU

I've just started taking classes working towards an ABSN and am aspiring to be a NICU nurse. This pursuit is a second career for me and I've felt drawn towards it because of my experience (16 years ago now!) having a child in the NICU for just over 4 weeks. The impact the nursing staff had on me was profound and is something I've never forgotten. I've heard anecdotally that a notable percentage of NICU nurses got into the specialty because of their personal experience having a child cared for in the NICU and am just curious to hear from anyone else who has had that experience or know others who have. thanks p.s.- I hope this isn't a repeat thread...I looked but didn't see one addressing this topic

Thanks for the feedback! Some really great insights...thank you for the encouragement. To be clear, my BA (double in Philosophy and Systematic Theology) is a tad under 3.0 but doesn't have any of the nursing prereqs at all (the handful of classes I bombed were high level philosophy and theology classes)...so any of those prereq classes (Anatomy, Micro, Stats etc) I would be taking for the first time now at a community college before applying to an ABSN. I feel fairly confident that I can do well in all my necessary course work that applies to my nursing degree. My concern was dragging a lower old cumulative GPA around even if I got 4.0s on all my prereqs for nursing school. I just assumed that the old lower grades would prevent me from getting accepted in an ABSN program even if I aced all the new classes because my 'new' cumulative GPA would still be fairly low even with a couple semesters of 4.0s ...and they do seem to put a lot of weight on your cumulative GPA not just the prereq GPA. Maybe I'm wrong about that...not sure....I don't really have a sense of how competitive those programs are. Regardless of what program I end up in I definitely plan on self educating with NICU in mind in addition to my regular courseload....so thanks for the idea about possible distance learning electives focused in this area. Much appreciated...

Hello everyone, I have enjoyed lurking on this board quite a bit and have learned a lot from various discussions here...thank you for that. I've recently decided that I want to pursue a second career in nursing (I'm 43) and specifically want to work in the NICU. Many years ago my oldest son was born at 32 weeks and was in the NICU for 4 weeks after my (now ex) wife was on bedrest in the hospital for 4 weeks. The nursing staff made a huge impact on me and I've always admired the hard work and compassion they showed not only to the babies but also to the families who were experiencing intense crises periods of their life. I also have several family members in other parts of the country who work in NICUs so I'm somewhat familiar with the work environment and stresses associated with the specialty. When the opportunity arose recently to make a career change the choice felt obvious. I feel really drawn to being able to serve people in that way specifically and I think it's something that I could excel at. I am just now in the planning stages of making this move but I'm very determined and am wondering what folks might suggest I do specifically to make myself a more desirable candidate to end up in the NICU. I have a BA and am planning on applying to a few ABSN programs in my area but my current cumulative GPA (from 20 years ago) isn't great so I might not get accepted and would therefore apply to a couple ASN programs and then transfer to an RN to BSN afterwords. I was thinking about starting with a CNA 1 and 2 first so I can get some practical experience and potentially volunteer (or maybe even find a job) in NICU, Postpartum, or L&D (I'm not sure how volunteering works exactly). Then I'd start in on my prereqs while hopefully getting some experience along the way. I'm in the fortunate position that I won't have to work very much during my course of study so I really want to focus on what will prepare me specifically for NICU work...whatever that may be. I would really appreciate any advice on any specific courses, certifications, or other things I could be doing to give myself an advantage by the time I become an RN/BSN....especially anything specific to being an 'older' male trying to get into the specialty. I do have a few connections at one of the hospitals in my area that I plan on nurturing, even if only for advice. Thanks for your help and suggestions.