Recommended NICUs?

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I'm hoping for some advice on finding a NICU that's a good fit. I'm very mobile (no family commitments in any given location) and willing to move. I have a few years of both Level III and (low-ish acuity) Level IV experience.

Ideally I'd love to work on a unit that takes both high-acuity Level IV cases (ECMO, CRRT, cardiac) as well as micros/deliveries. Perhaps it's just the areas I've looked, but it seems as though these units can be hard to come by. In addition to acuity, my top priority is to find a unit with a supportive culture; I'd also love to find a place with reasonable nursing salaries relative to cost of living.

Does anybody have any particular NICU recommendations? I don't love the 'traveler' lifestyle, but I'm thinking about traveling simply to get a taste for some different units before I commit. Any and all insights are appreciated, including PMs. Thanks in advance!

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Specializes in NICU.

Come to Ontario, Canada ;) our highest level is level 3...I work at an academic tertiary care centre...we take the regions sickest kids. The only thing we don't do is cardiac surgery - we ship those kids to SickKids in Toronto :) RNs start at $32/hour ^_^

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Specializes in NICU.

Two options in the Midwest are Cincinnati Children's and Monroe Carell Children's-Vanderbilt (Nashville). They would offer everything on your list. Vandy is a very nice facility.

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Two options in the Midwest are Cincinnati Children's and Monroe Carell Children's-Vanderbilt (Nashville). They would offer everything on your list. Vandy is a very nice facility.

A friend of mine started as a new grad in the Vandy NICU, and it sounds like it was an amazing learning experience for her. I'm glad you mentioned that, I may reach out to her.

It sounds like Randall Children's in Portland and Lucille Packard in Stanford also meet the criteria.

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Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. It's catchment area is hundreds of miles and includes 4 states naturally resulting in high acuity.

UVRMC is a neighboring NICU to that one, and is a 75 bed Level III NICU with high acuity and deliveries as well.

These are in Utah. The outdoor paradise and has many young, single friendly people. Beautiful place to live and work.

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I worked at OHSU in Portland and loved it. A good mix of deliveries and high acuity. You could also cross train into the PICU for more cardiac.

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Specializes in Neurology/ER/ICU.

Have you checked out Florida Hospital? Disney Pavilion in Orlando in particular if you're looking for the babies who are the micropreemies and the babies on ECMO and such. We do it all here. PM if u want a bit more info!

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