desilu92

I was a corpsman in the Navy 15 yrs ago. Before I was discharged, I started all of my paperwork to challenge the LVN boards. Due to my experience and the recommendations from my superiors, I was able to sit for the LVN exam with no problem. There are no hospitals nowadays that offer RN programs. You can use your GI bill and do the LVN to RN transition program in any community college though. I would not recommend Excelsior as you do not receive the proper clinical training that is offered through traditional schools. Good luck!!!

You will find that most, if not all, NICU's will have a separate stethescope for each baby. These are provided by the unit. I bought a stethescope (Littman) when I graduated from nursing school not knowing this info and have only used it when working in newborn nursery and when floating to peds.

I have worked in non-delivery hospitals, newborn nurseries and delivery hospitals. Other than giving a sponge bath, vernix is the best "natural" lotion for a preemie and should be allowed to absorb into the skin. A sali-wipe can be used if leads won't stick. I have seen many units use arm leads for micro-preemies, no tcm monitoring, secure temp probes with a small piece of duoderm and pulse ox with a posey strap around it.

At my first staff assignment, we had 2 males that worked day shift on our floor. One was straight, the other was gay. Both were treated as equals and performed their job quite well. Neither was married or had children of their own and learned how to change diapers and care for the babies along with the female nurses. Working in the NICU as a male is a minority but if it is your dream, go for it!! Good luck..

I don't understand them completely but an RT offered this same type of info which I found on http://www.neonatology.org. "Unlike traditional ventilators, which essentially inflate and deflate the baby's lungs like a set of billows, the oscillator keeps the lungs open with a constant positive end-expiratiory pressure ("PEEP") and vibrates the air at a very high rate (up to 600 times per second). The vibration helps gases to quickly diffuse in and out of the baby's airways without the need for the "bellows" action which may damage delicate lung structures. Although oscillators are not appropriate for every disorder and situation, there is no doubt that because of their incredible power, oscillators have made it easeir to care for the very sickest babies with certain types of lung problems."

I am with Cross Country and am pleased with them. I have a friend that was with American Mobile. She said it wasn't horrible but wouldn't recommend them. And I have another friend that is with Med Express, sister company of American Mobile, and is very happy with her recruiter. Your success with a travle company rests upon your recruiter. He or she can make or break your travel experience. Feel free to pm me for my recruiter name and phone # if you'd like!!

I am on my second assignment with Cross Country and have been happy so far. My recruiters are great. I have opted for the housing both times and have not been disappointed thus far. Have had a couple of problems with pay but nothing significant. And my recruiters were always on top of getting everything settled with payroll.

My first travel assignment was at Cedars. When I accepted the position, I thought that they would have the most up to date equipment and would be very organized. Your friend must have been a traveler with them awhile ago because myself and my fellow travelers were treated like garbage. The director is new and seems to be more worried about the media than the staff. The staff think the travelers are there to take their overtime, which is silly because the staff has mandated overtime. I floated to Peds and PICU over 50% of the time. The bonus with floating is that the Peds and PICU staff were super nice. And when you are not floating, you are stuck with IMC kids that weigh as much as 2 yr olds. I was in an ICU assignment once during my contract and my 3 friends were never assigned to ICU pts. When we questioned the assignments, the charge nurse would huff at us and tell us that the staff gets first priority. The equipment is not anything special. They do use Avea vents and have giraffes with the spot lights, but that's about it. They have old bili lights and their monitors are pretty old too. My old hospital in Fresno was more up to date than Cedars and Fresno even gave us a continental breakfast during orientation. To the above poster, one of my friends is working at a NICU in San Luis Obispo (sorry, can't think of the name right now) and she loves it. Hasn't gotten floated much and seems to always be caring for ICU pts. Another friend is on staff at UCSF and loves it. Hope that helps.

No Crumping, I just wanted to let you know that I printed out your response on a 4x6 index card while I was in nursing school to let me know what I would be getting myself into. I was able to enroll in a new grad program at a children's hospital and have now been an NICU nurse for a little over a year. I still have the index card placed on a bulletin board in my spare bedroom and still refer to it when I 've had a bad day. So thank you for your words of wisdom. They made a difference in my life!!!

Question #1: Are grandparents and/or siblings limited to certain hours for visitation? (i.e. 0900-2100). The only time family is not allowed is from 6:30-8:00 am and pm. We do not use wrist bands for identification, mostly due to infection control. Instead the parents are given a 4 digit code that they must give when they call in and when they are in the waiting room and call in to visit. The only other time we don't allow visitors is during a procedure, such a PICC placement or unexpected surgery at the bedside. Question #2: Do you limit the amount of time of these visits? No, they can sit at the beside all day if they want. And we have had some parents that we have essentially had to force out to go eat and go to the restroom. Question #3: Do you allow grandparents to remain at the bedside during physician rounds? As long as there is a parent at the bedside with the grandparent, they are not asked to leave. But our visiting policy states that there can only be 2 people at the bedside and one must be the parent or legal guardian. Children under 13 are not allowed to visit unless it is a child of the parents and they may only visit on Saturday and Sunday. During RSV season, we don't allow these children in at all, no exceptions! Question #4: Does your unit have individual rooms or an open concept (multiple bed spaces within an area)? We have 8 rooms and 2 open areas. 7 of the rooms have 4-6 spaces for patients and the other room is isolation, which has 2 rooms within a room. The open areas are called family care, feeder grower area, and they each have 12 spaces. 2 of the open spaces in family care are rooming-in rooms.

Thank you, Crumper, for the words of encouragement. I printed your response on an index card and kept it in my nursing school binder during my last quarter of school. I am now working in a Level III NICU and can relate to every word that was said.

See below response...

I am a recent graduate working in a California NICU. I do have LVN experience in pediatrics but have never worked in a hospital until nursing school. When I did my preceptorship, I worked on a peds floor that had a 6 bed Level II NICU. When I graudated, I took all of my experiences and it has definitely paid off. I just finished a 4 month orientation and am now working on my own. I had to move to central California to take the position but it has all been worth it. Good luck!! Desirae