RN with 2 yrs experience

[lukatrn]

Hello all,

I've been in working in a level 4 NICU in a children's hospital for 2 years now and I'm trying to update my resume work experience, but I feel like I'm either writing a novel or not including enough information. I just don't know what's relevant and what's not?

Here's what I have right now:

Staff nurse, NICU, children's hospital, 2016-current

• Provide developmentally appropriate care of premature and term infants up to 1 year of age.
  
• Provide pre-operative care and recover infants following surgeries
  
• Respond in a timely and appropriate manner to emergency situations
  
• Care for complex cardiac patient (active arrhythmias, pacemakers, pre- and post-cath lab), infants with compromised respiratory status (ventilators, HFV, trachs, nitrous oxide), patients with neurological anomalies (active seizures, shunts, continuous EEG)
  
• Educate and involve parents throughout stay and for discharge
  

I would appreciate any feedback you could offer me!

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I think 4 out of your 5 bullets it can be assumed that any NICU nurse does so there's no reason to specifically state it. In my opinion, only put things that make you stand out in these descriptions.

For my inpatient job, for example, it says something like "staff nurse on a 26 bed, acute care, inpatient pediatric neuroscience unit. Managed a patient assignment of 3-5 patients ranging in age from infancy to young adults with complex neurological, neurosurgical or neuro-oncological diagnoses." And then I included a project I worked on (that was something above and beyond what a staff nurse typically did). I included the age range of my patients because it was so broad and not all pediatric floors have an age range that broad. In the NICU, everyone knows it's babies. Not all NICUs take cardiac babies (they went to the Cardiac ICU and then the Cardiac floor at the hospital I worked at) so I'd leave that in but everything else is standard for a NICU nurse.

[lukatrn]

Thanks, that's very helpful! Do you think I should leave in that I deal with surgical patients because only two of the six NICUs in town have surgical patients so I feel like that might be a good thing to include, or should I just include that in my general statement describing the unit?

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I'd maybe include a description of the unit that explains premature infants as well as infants with complex congenital anomalies and that it's medical and surgical patients and what level NICU this is.

Are the other NICUs more special care nurseries? Where do the surgical preemies go at these other NICUs? I can't imagine a 24 weeker with NEC s/p bowel resection going to any unit other than the NICU, for example. A full term surgical baby with EA or TEF or gastroschisis, I can see going to a regular PICU.

[lukatrn]

My NICU is in a regional children's hospital, but basically any neonate in a 150 mile radius needing surgery comes to my hospital. We have two level 3 NICUs in town (one preforming surgeries--only exlaps for NEC and g-tube insertions) and the rest are level 2.

So I think your suggestion saying that it's a level 4 NICU dealing with "complex congenital anomalies and medical and surgical patients" would cover that and make it easier to read quickly.

Thanks a lot, you've been very helpful

[llg, PhD, RN]

I agree.

Just give a very brief description of the NICU. People will know what a NICU is and what the role of an entry-level staff nurse in a NICU is: you just need to clue them in on what level NICU it is. It's a Level-4 NICU with both medical and surgical patients.