babiesRmylife

This is normal. This is how it's always been any place I have worked! Unless you have great staffing some places will do every 3rd weekend, but I believe most hospitals are every other. Welcome to nursing!

TRUTH! I was really tired coming home from work one morning & I was going 10 mph over the speed limit. I didn't have my badge on, but I was still wearing scrubs & my work back was sitting in my passenger seat. I was pulled over & the cop asked if I was a nurse & where at. He took my information & came back with a warning. I told him thank you & that I really appreciate it. Sometimes this completely works. I'm not going to press my luck or take advantage of it though.

Okay...so complete randomness, BUT what types of scrubs & styles do you like? I've recently gained some weight, , & am having a hard time finding scrubs. I'm short (5'1") & 'chubby' now. Thanks for your help with my randomness.

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Currently: If infants were eating before the transfusion then they will NOT be made NPO at this time in our unit. There has been much talk about making ALL babies NPO for X amount of time before & after transfusions because they think low blood counts that require transfusions could be a very early sign of NEC. This has not yet started in our unit, but I think it is in the works & all the fine details are being worked out.

Peds- you will learn A LOT more medication, conditions, etc. If you decide later that you want to do NICU then your skill set will already have a great foundation! Personally, my heart has ALWAYS been in the NICU, so that is where I work. Just know that if you decide you don't want to do this later you can still switch. It's probably not as hard to switch for somebody else who has done med-surg or peds, etc. I believe that any new job you will learn what you need with TIME & constant exposure to different things. In an interview you just have to let them know that you are willing to learn & open to it.

We scrub in when we first arrive in the unit. Parents are to also scrub before they come into the unit. If you touch any personal item (purse, phone, wheelchairs, etc.) or body (face, glasses, etc.) you are to wash or put hand sanitizer on your hands. If we have babies in isolation we must gown & glove (mask if droplet precautions), but we do NOT make parents do this. Parents are to wash before they leave the isolation room. Nurses wear a gown when holding or feeding infants to protect you & your scrubs from spreading germs. Sometimes nurses have assignments where you need to pick up multiple infants throughout your shift so you need to protect you & them from spreading germs. If you are doing anything where you might touch bodily fluid (spit, emesis, saliva, snot, poop/pee, blood, etc.)- wear gloves. Same goes during lab time- wear gloves. You can contact CMV, among other things, if you are in contact with body fluids that have CMV (not all hospitals test all babies until they show potential symptoms) without some sort of protective barrier.

First off, EXCELLENT work on researching & seeking out advice for the road to your potential future. I think thats an AMAZING idea!!! My personal opinion, I would go ahead & get your BSN if its feasible. How I worked towards my BSN, I went to a community college & got my AS degree (Associates of Science). Then I transferred all those credits to a 4yr college to go to nursing school. If this sounds like something your interested in you need to contact your community college & 4yr college to see if your credits will transfer from one school to the other, & if they will only accept X amount of credit hours from another school. Lastly, see if there are any other pre-req's that the 4yr college may need you to take before applying & starting nursing school. (Sorry if this is confusing) If you want to go back to school be an NNP or a practitioner of any kind having your BSN will bring you one step closer to starting NNP school. I know that NNP school you have to have at least 1 year experience when you apply & 2 years of NICU experience by the time you start your clinical rotation for NNP. This may not be how all schools are, but the school a few of my friends go to this is their requirements. While your in school for BSN you will study & do clinical's in several different areas. I have ALWAYS known I wanted to be a NICU nurse, as well, so during my critical care rotation I was in the NICU & this sealed the deal for me. Clinical time also gave me an idea of other areas I would be interested in & others I don't think would be a good fit for me. There are SOME hospitals that won't hire new-grad's into the NICU, they would like you to have 1 year pediatric experience as an RN. The hospital I work at WILL hire new-grads, so don't let this get to you until you know what your future hospital requires. I hope that this answers some of your questions. Feel free to ask if you think of anything else. Good luck in your journey!

First off, EXCELLENT work on researching & seeking out advice for the road to your potential future. I think thats an AMAZING idea!!! My personal opinion, I would go ahead & get your BSN if its feasible. Especially, if you want to go back to school be an NNP or a practitioner of any kind. I know that NNP school you have to have at least 1 year experience when you apply & 2 years of NICU experience by the time you start your clinical rotation for NNP. This may not be how all schools are, but the school a few of my friends go to this is their requirements. While your in school for BSN you will study & do clinical's in several different areas. I have ALWAYS known I wanted to be a NICU nurse, as well, so during my critical care rotation I was in the NICU & this sealed the deal for me. Clinical time also gave me an idea of other areas I would be interested in & others I don't think would be a good fit for me. There are SOME hospitals that won't hire new-grad's into the NICU, they would like you to have 1 year pediatric experience as an RN. The hospital I work at WILL hire new-grads, so don't let this get to you until you know what your future hospital requires. I hope that this answers some of your questions. Feel free to ask if you think of anything else. Good luck in your journey!

It kind of depends on the area you live in too. I applied to a lot of jobs before & again after moving here. There are quite a few job listings on & off. Some of it depends on what you are willing to do & others of it is that people/companies/offices are short staffed, but are still being extremely picky on who they are willing to hire. I know currently A LOT of people are quitting in my unit, but they have high expectations on who they will hire here. At some point when your 7-8 people down on 1 shift you have to start hiring new grads or people will lesser experience. Besides they have to learn & get experience one way or another.

Mine only took about 3-4 weeks. I did call after about 2 weeks to check on my application.

We always mix our milk like that, I say no problemo. Plus, thats how we would fortify our milk is by adding formula to it.

In my old hospital we had medication scanning & so we used a barcoding system & scanned our breastmilk just like a medication. It was AMAZING!!!! Super easy. All we had to do was scan the infants bedside barcode then scan the breastmilk bottle. Then scan the infants bedside barcode again & whatever you put the breakmilk in that you labeled with their breastmilk label. That way you doubled checked the milk you drew your milk from & then you checked whatever you put your milk into with the label you stuck it on to. Sounds confusing but its really not & it definately decreased the incidence of giving the wrong breastmilk.

so extremely sad! Praying everybody involved. I'm glad nurses all over are standing up about the situation. And Kudos to her friend for leaving the organization.

We change ours out Q7days. We would place a piece of tape with the date & shift it needed changed on the plastic edge under the isolette doors. :)