shaykdo

I work in Pediatrics ICU part time at one hospital and I work in Peds per diem at another hospital. I don't have a family yet but I'm already sick of weekends/holidays. Once I have a family I don't want to have to worry about missing their games, helping with hw, missing holidays, etc etc. I'm looking into school nurse programs in NJ..anyone here have any advice on which programs you would recommend? Rutgers? TCNJ? Is it true you need 30 credits to fulfill requirements for NJ to become school nurse? Any advice I would greatly appreciate! Thank you thank you!

I was a med-surg oncology nurse for almost 3 years then interviewed for the PICU and got it. I've been on PICU for about 3 months and love it so far. If this is your passion and this is the direction you want to go in your career they should hire you. They're going to ask you why you want to switch. Just be confident, thats what is great about nursing you can switch specialities. On my interview they asked me all the typical questions..I was honest and confident and was my self. Good luck!

Thank you very much for your input. Thats amazing you have 54 years in nursing you could write a book with all your stories! I have so much respect for you. I want PICU to be something I fall in love with, I want to dive head first in all of it. I start end of next month, a lot of the nurses on the adult oncology floor aren't understanding why I'm leaving.

Thank you for your responses! :)

Thanks for your honest response! It's a 6 bed PICU with the step down on the other side; Level 1 Trauma Center. I really hope it's a good team of nurses where we can work well together and the management team is normal and doesn't micromanage...hopefully Im not wishful thinking!

I just accepted a PICU position; I am currently a med-surg/oncology nurse but have been looking for a switch and it finally happened. I wanted to see if anyone can give me an idea of what kind of procedures I should expect to be a part of at the bedside. What kind of things will I have to help the doctors with? Is it more common for the patients to have central lines rather than peripheral iv's? Do you ever feel like you assignment is too heavy or do you find them fair and you can devote your time to good care? And ultimately can you say you love your job!? Thank you so much in advance for answering my questions!

I just accepted a PICU position; I am currently a med-surg/oncology nurse but have been looking for a switch and it finally happened. I wanted to see if anyone can give me an idea of what kind of procedures I should expect to be a part of at the bedside. What kind of things will I have to help the doctors with? Is it more common for the patients to have central lines rather than peripheral iv's? Do you ever feel like you assignment is too heavy or do you find them fair and you can devote your time to good care? And ultimately can you say you love your job!? Thank you so much in advance for answering my questions!

I'm in your same position. I've been a nurse on a med-surg floor for 2.5yrs. I've always been interested in NICU nursing. I've been shadowing the NICU at the same hospital I work on the med-surg floor. You get 3 dates and are there for about 4 hours. I absolutely love it but they are low in their census so the last thing they want is to hire. So I'm registered to take the NRP course and will put this experience on my resume. I've been applying to jobs but no call backs. Very frustrating! But I do hear stories that nurses were hired with no NICU experience we just have to find our break! Good luck to you.