Damien201

Encourage the staff to invite the newbies out to post-shift breakfast or dinner. Grabbing a drink after work was a great way for me to bond with my new coworkers when I was on orientation.

Thank you janfrn. That definitely helps. I did apply to all of the PICUs in the area, but was turned down due to "lack of adequate experience." The other thing about the pedi ED is that I'll be asked to come over to the adult side if there are not any kids on my side. I'm not completely against working with adults, but I'd really rather not. Part of the reason I went with peds is so that I don't have to deal with whiny adults...just being honest.... But what I'm gathering from what you're saying is that it doesn't really make a difference and one won't be better than the other?

I have worked in the PICU (first nursing job) for a little over 9 months. Unfortunately, I had to leave my job because my wife is getting her PhD. The area that I'm moving to does not seem to have PICU jobs open for people with less than 2 years of experience. I was offered a job in an ER which has a pediatric beds and another job in a NICU. The ER is interested in me because of my peds experience, but I'm worried about the unit. They are not a trauma center and there are a couple other peds trauma centers within a reasonable distance. They have just expanded their peds side but it is not established in the community yet. They "expect" in the coming year, they will be expanding rapidly. I was told they'd get kids like the chronic patients with acute-type of problems because, once again, they are not a trauma center and it doesn't look like they'll be heading that direction soon. The NICU is a level III. They're a well-established NICU and are a great training ground. Not much else to say. Which one do I take if I want to get back into the PICU after about 1-2 years of working at one of these hospitals? I was told that NICU and other critical care areas are 2 totally different worlds and an ER might keep me primed for the PICU, but if the patients aren't very acute...will it really? My wife is getting annoyed with me about this and wants me to pick one soon..."happy wife, happy life," right?