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The big three NICU's in Miami are Baptist, Jackson and Miami Children's. All are level III. Baptist just DC'd the youngest baby ever born. Jackson is a county hospital with about 70 NICU beds in total. All three are great places to work but very different. I would visit all three and get a feel for them.

As a PKU mom (DS is 8 months old :monkeydance: with classic PKU) and a nurse, I can tell you that it was a blessing that my son had his Guthrie test done at 48 hours. Even then his phe levels were barely above normal. When I retested a week after birth, he was 5x's higher than what he should be. If we had tested before 24 hours we might have slipped through the cracks. Believe it or not it still happens.

I haven't worked there yet. That is from Fortune Magazine, Working Mother and AARP. I start on the 23rd. I will let you know.

No situation is perfect. However, not all hospitals in Florida are like that. Baptist in Miami is considered one of the best places to work for in America.

GooeyRN You know when I worked night shift every single nurse I worked with delivered early and had a low birth weight infant. Who knows if there is a correlation. My weight limit was imposed by my doctor, who stated that I could work but not lift more than 20 lbs. The way that the law is written, an employer must make accomodations for a pregnant employee that they would make for an employee with a work related injury. Also, I had a friend in nursing school who worked in the ICU while pregnant. She lifted a heavy patient during her second trimester and miscarried. She also suffered permanent ligament damage. This pregnancy she did not even turn a patient, her employer accomodated her.

Thank you so much for your comment and support. I am in the process of looking for an attorney. My main goal is to stop this from happening to someone else. I will keep you posted.

I was fired for not being able to lift more than 20 lbs while pregnant. Other than that I am completely capable of doing my job.

I received a certified letter yesterday informing me that due to my pregnancy I could not lift the required 75 lbs and was hereby terminated. VIA LETTER!!! I am 19 weeks pregnant and my doctor says that anything over 20 lbs is unsafe. I have been on leave (unpaid) for two months and now I have been fired. My nurse manager made the final decision to terminate me because she could not "accomodate" me. I am now weighing all of my options but my interpretation of the law is that you can not fire someone for being pregnant.

Hi! I've been on nights for two months. It's 8 hr. shift so it's five nights a week for me. I have pretty much hit the end of my rope. Instead of getting better it has gotten worse. It is so bad that I spend my whole day dreading going to work. To top it all off, most nights I am all alone in the Bone Marrow unit. I am locked in what I refer to as the bat cave with no human interaction and two very very sick kids. I was precepted on a hem/onc floor on days for a month and then sentenced to the batcave. I love the work but the nights are killing me. Bone marrow is a dream come true but the night shift is slowing ruining my experience. I have reached the point of looking for a new job. A job with 12 hour day shifts.

I know I'm a little late with this one........but South Miami and Coral Gables are extremely expensive, exclusive neighborhoods that I would love to live in......and I live in Pembroke Pines. No comparison

Oh and Barry does clinicals at Jackson as well....

Well I go to Barry and if you can afford it or qualify for aid I would consider it (I don't because I have a finance degree from FIU). It has an excellent reputation and incredible faculty. It is a family. I know that this year they had 450 applicants and 120 spaces so good luck.

The way that my school has it set up you have to attend the class, the lab and then a mandatory one hour review session. They say it helps people a lot.

I'll be sure to let everyone know how it's going next semester. Thanks again

Thank you all for your encouraging words. I am so obsessed with starting school that it is all I can talk about. It's nice to finally speak to people who understand. My boyfriend looks at me with a confused look and says that he's never seen anyone this excited to go back to school. He thinks I'm nuts. Well if I am there is something wonderful to say about insanity!!