carriec

:rotfl: I AGREE ALSO!!I also went straight to the NM and spoke with her...It was so much easier, and they DO higher nurses without NICU experience..The fact that you do have nursing experience PERIOD puts you ahead of the game!!! GOOD LUCK!!!

Gosh, that sounds a lot like our unit, except for the 1-2 babies is more like 3 babies....grower feeders 4.... We used to have a lot of 1 on 1 nursing care for our sick babies, but it seems like we're always short staffed, and that makes it very hard on everyone...lots of people in my unit are starting to get burnt out....WORK brings on a whole new meaning!!!Maybe I need to move!!!!

Some of the girls in our nicu has donated things like an exosaucer, and a bouncy seat with toys, also we buy neat mobiles and those water aquarium things... I know that all units are different....Some babies have their own rooms..ours is all open, so we can watch our older babies as they play and sit up in their things....Also, baby swings with music.... Do the parents come and spend time with the baby?

That hospital in California sounds like heaven for a NICU nurse!! I'm so sorry that you had a night like that....I think one thing I've learned being a nicu nurse is learning to open my already big mouth and tell the charge nurse that she needs to assign one of your babies to someone else....or ask people to get you things...that will get them going... I remember about 11 years ago when I was in nursing school, and we had a couple of lectures on DELEGATING!!! Those people sitting on their rumps reading need to unglue themselves from those rocking chairs!!! OH THAT MAKES ME SO MAD!! I'm so sorry for you!!! DON'T BE AFRAID TO SPEAK UP!!!

Sure thing Special Kay!! I've been a Nicu nurse for 9 years....Well, like a lot of things we learn in school, we don't use all of it... I can tell you that I use my math to do things like double check medication drips...(like the doctor will order it in so many micrograms per kilogram per minute or hour...then you need to figure out how many cc's per hour depending on how your medication comes up.....example...dopamine drips, narcotic drips, insulin drips... Then, when it comes to the little ones, they'll write orders like 0.1mg/kg times one dose...you have to do some type of algebra (in your head or on paper) to figure out how many cc's of the medication that baby needs.....\ I know I'm rambling (IT'S LATE!!) Did any of this help????

Sometimes I don't know how I do it myself

I'm so sorry that you had a day like that..I can tell you I've had lots of days like that! It makes me very angry.Angry at the doctors for holding on too long..Angry at everyone to be quite truthfully.. It seems like I see few miracles in these cases..And the families are expecting a miracle with their little one (who could blame them). The problem is that some of these families don't see what we have to put them through.. We had a premie in our nicu that passed away on Thursday.She was born very premature and had very bad chronic lungs.She had never been off of the vent, just for trials..(she failed every one). She had several surgeries, and last Monday the doc's decided it was time for a trach. Well, 8 hours after her trach she was on a high frequency vent with a trach!! She was 7 months old when she died.... That poor baby suffered for what? My heart goes out to you...I do feel your pain!!!

We transported a baby to our nicu once who had been a product of a small hospital without someone to do the spinal in time..did local csection due to an abruption, and baby was very sick...went into DIC and now is 3 years old and severely mentally retarded....mom did pretty well..A LOT BETTER THAN I WOULD HAVE BEEN!!

I work in a level III NICU....During the weekdays, we have an NNP who attends all c-sections, meconium, and forceps deliveries with either a resident or another nurse.... On the weekends and nights, it's a resident or NNP from the NICU, with one RN from the NICU (usually the charge nurse)..The charge nurse carries a pager with her in case of problems in the nicu while she is gone......our charge nurses are supposed to have no assignment or a light assignment to be able to help other nurses with their babies, go to deliveries, and work on staffing .....(YIKES!!)

i just want you to know that i work in a nicu where babies pass, and their family always stay in my thoughts and prayers. the nurses that work with me talk of different babies all of the time, and i feel like every family is special.even though your granddaughter is gone, i know many people that you don't even know are thinking and praying for her and her family!

I'm a unit coordinator that works only weekends (Saturday and Sunday).We work every third weekend on our unit, and if Friday's are worked in conjunction with a Sat and Sun, they count as our weekend time... prn nurses must work one shift every 6 weeks on weekends. We have some premium pay weekend people, who work only weekends, and get extra money....and we offer weekend shift differential... We do have to use agency nurses occasionally for high acuity... We also have a float pool at my hospital to help out with the staffing..We aren't a closed unit, but there's talk of it......