I'd like to find out a little about some of you regular posters. Now, I'm not asking you to give up your anonymity....I treasure mine too! It would be nice though to get a feel for your level of experience, different work environments, goals, etc. Try to keep it short and sweet and lets see what happens! I'll go first.
I've been a NICU nurse for 20 years this month. I've worked at the same hospital the whole time-university based teaching safety-net hospital. I was worried as I approached my Sr. year in college because I really didn't like most nursing areas. Luckily, I fell into an extern job that I never left (talk about loyalty!). I now work part time 2 days/week. I'm married, 4 kids and I've decided to apply for my masters for next fall. I'd like to get into nursing education and do clinical teaching in the NICU.
I'd like to find out a little about some of you regular posters. Now, I'm not asking you to give up your anonymity....I treasure mine too! It would be nice though to get a feel for your level of experience, different work environments, goals, etc. Try to keep it short and sweet and lets see what happens! I'll go first.
I've been a NICU nurse for 20 years this month. I've worked at the same hospital the whole time-university based teaching safety-net hospital. I was worried as I approached my Sr. year in college because I really didn't like most nursing areas. Luckily, I fell into an extern job that I never left (talk about loyalty!). I now work part time 2 days/week. I'm married, 4 kids and I've decided to apply for my masters for next fall. I'd like to get into nursing education and do clinical teaching in the NICU.
Your turn. :)
I will be starting nursing school in the fall at North Carolina Central University. I would like to do an externship next summer in Chicago where I plan to relocate. I have two children ages 4 and 7. My 4 y/o will be going to kindergarden this year. Other than that I work in a Medical/Surgical/Coronary Intensive care unit at a hospital in Durham.
Harry Potter Fan here too Gompers!!! Glad it's summer when I can actually read a novel or 2 or 3...
I am entering my last semester of nursing school the end of August. I have accepted a GN position in a Level III NICU starting in January. I currently work as a tech. in transitional trauma and have learned more than I ever imagined. I have definitely learned that traumatic brain injuries, gunshots, external fixators, and fractured pelvises are not my thing. I'm both excited and terrified to start in the NICU, but am counting on great preceptorship and great nurses to learn from and help me through.
i am a 25 year mother of a 5 year old little girl. i graduated in april with AD in nursing in oklahoma. just found out that i passed boards today and received my license. i work in IMCU/ICU i have been there a 1 1/2 years as a tech and now a RN. SO far everything is great.
Howdy Howdy! I work in a 75 bed level IV NICU @ one of the Children's hospitals rated by Child Magazine as one of the 10 best in the USA :) It's an awesome job. Working at a teaching and research hospital affords me the opportunity to learn so much (and I even get to boss some of the residents):rotfl: The really neat thing about the hospital is every baby has it's own room!
However, I will be moving to Canada this fall and in 2006I hope to be working at the New Children's Hospital being built in Calgary, Alberta.
On a side note, don't be intimidated by Big Hospitals, our current unit has over 120 RN's but where I came from there were only 10, and it is my experience that the larger hospital was much easier to assimilate into, and there is less gossip and professional jealousy to contend with. Sometimes it's nice to be just another brick in the wall.
I am 38 and married with no kids. (trying ) I have lots of animals and plenty of hobbies. This makes my tenth year as a nurse, I was med/surg for the first three, then became wise and landed in the NICU. Thank you Lord! Anyway, I love my job, and believe this is the place for me to retire. My unit is a 28 bed level II in a private Baptist hospital. Our patients are from areas around the central part of the state and as far a the hills of eastern KY. Some of our parents have to drive three hours one way! My unit has many long timers (nurses) some have worked there for 35 years or more! That gives you an idea of what our unit is like. (we like it) Two years ago I took a full time line and began taking vents, sicker kids, etc. I love it, but it has it's challanges. I sometimes get very attatched to babies and parents and go to an occassional birthday party here and there for one our babies after they are discharged and return to their new lives! I love working with babies, and will always be involved with them in some way or the other.
I'm currently single, finally living on my own, out of the dorms and parents house! It feels great, but I still miss it sometimes. Strangely enough, I think I will actually miss not going back to college this fall. The stark reality of actually having a license that took 4 years and tens of thousands of dollars to get is overwhelming at times. I never thought I would end up in a Level III NICU at a teaching hospital, but I fell in love with NICU my last semester of school. ER was my second choice, but you get too many dirtbag patients. How can you not love your NICU babies? [parents are another story!] So anyway, I have been a NICU nurse for 2 months, and will come off orientation next week, having learned NICU nursing from the ground up. HFOV, drips, surfactant, PDA, umbilical lines, neonatal transport/resuscitation.......all new and exciting/scary. Well, that's my story!
BTW thanks for your help over the last few months as you have answered my posts.
I am 34, happily married with two girls, 7 and 12, and a black Lab, Chance. I love to travel, read, and scrapbook. I have been a nurse for almost 7 years. I worked in a level III Nicu for 5+ years. It is a 65 bed unit. I promised myself in nursing school that I did not want to end up one of those crotchity nurses that hated their job. So I took a leap (off a cliff) and took a position in the float pool at the connecting childrens hospital. I have learned so much in the last year. Now I do IVT, ED, Med-surg, and PICU. I am just finishing orientation to the PICU (WOW) so I am going to pick up extra shifts in the NICU. My goal is to do some type of transport, neonatal or AirLift Northwest. When my kids are grown our plan is to get an RV and I can do travel nursing!!!
Im an OB/GYN nurse but would like to get into NICU. Im still in search of a hospital that will accept me without NICU experience. They have the so called NICU intern but the catch is you have to work for them at a certain time frame and its only for new grads & newly qualified nurses. Im willing to undergo training but its just that they prefer someone with NICU experience.
I'm 59, single w/an adopted 21y/o spec needs son; I've been an RN for 37 yrs , I've worked in a variety of units, but mostly the same hospital until I retired 3 years ago. I worked for ~22 yrs in a L3, 40 bed unit. I now work in a smaller L2 (10 beds), smaller hosp closer to home. It's great--so much less stress. I work about 2 shifts/wk, doubles what I get in my pension, so gives me $$ to do stuff for the house and have fun.
We have 2 cats, Pepper, DLH, black, 11 m/o, and Jenna, DSH, white, 5 y/o.
I have been on the diet from H*** for 4 months now and have lost 64#s. ~80 to go.
is there anyone from nc here? more specifically, anyone in the triad region? lastly, anyone work at unc hospitals? lol...ok, i got all my questions out...whew!
erin---love them heels! ;-p
p.s. i had originally always planned on going into *some* kind of health-care field(actually, i always had the aspirations to become a physician, but when i realized at the age of 8 or 9 that i'd *always* struggle with math, i knew i'd better get realistic and "switch gears"; i still held out hope though through my sophompre/junior year of h.s. though;-)), and never planned on nursing, though. level iii nicu is where i wanted to ultimately wind up (first as a staff rn and then as a nnp), and first work as moore regional hospital in pinehurst (nc, of course)---home of the 2005 u.s. open, and then at unc hospitals in their nicu; both hospitals is where *i* was treated as a 30 wker in 1982. however, i decided to switch specialties (neuroscience nursing---still hoping to pursue my msn, i guess, probably adult np...what do y'all think?---would that be "most appropriate", you think, for a neurology/neurosurgery floor? (and possibly nsicu on down the road, *if* i decide to do that at *some* point))---when i had to have two neurosurgeries (in april and may---with actually, *three* different procedures, but still under just those two neurosurgeries) which are r/t my prematurity (grade iii ivh). i had some of the "common" premie problems, as well as the ivh. however, compared to most premies, i had a fairly uneventful nicu experience [i.e. no rop, bpd, rds, etc.---just the ivh, was on room air on day 2 of life, did have to have exchange transfusions due to numerous "bld. lettings" (those are from my medical medical recods...lol), seizures during my first 2 wks. of life, jaundice due to hyperbilirubemia, etc.]. i was actually born at another small community hospital (adjacent county over from where i was raised), transferred to mrh the same day and spent 5 wks. there, and then transferred to unc where i spent about a month there once i was stable enough (initially, while at mrh, i wasn't expected to live and my parents actually were told, *and* planned, to plan my funeral) to be transferred. i was transferred there from a "neurosurgical standpoint" and from that point onward until the age of seven, i wound up having ten neurosurgeries and was followed up with the sicc for as long as necessary (age-wise), as well as with the opthalmology clinic. i managed to stay away from unc for so very close to fifteen years (*eight* weeks and *two* days shy of *fifteen* years, to be exact) before my now, non-fucntioning shunt started giving me problems; but it had most likely been malfunctioning slowly for a number of years from what my neurosurgeon says. it was just a matter of time...*sigh* so in addition to *that* shunt, i also have a functional one that back in may had caused everyone to wonder if maybe it had malfunctioned too...but all is well with it so far...i just have migraines in addition to the hydrocephalus/shunts, etc. guess that's it...lol. oh, and i'm an adn student going *back* into my school's program for this fall (audited last fall due to personal/financial reasons and got back in for this fall). good luck to all who are hoping to do nicu nursing, are already nicu rns pursuing bsns, msns, etc.! may we *all* get where we are going (and *what* we want---out of life;-)!)! sorry this is *so* looong!
hi i am from nc but i am not a nurse yet. i had a daughter in the unc nicu. she was there for 109 days. because of everything i learned from all of the nurses and doctors i am thinking of changing my career. without the constant supervision form all of the great nurses my daughter would no have made it. i am not sure if you were there at the time but i deeply appreciate all of the hard work and care. i have been a teacher for 11 years but want to be an nurse now. thank you.
Hi I am from NC but I am not a nurse yet. I had a daughter in the UNC NICU. She was there for 109 days. Because of everything I learned from all of the nurses and doctors I am thinking of changing my career. Without the constant supervision form all of the great nurses my daughter would no have made it. I am not sure if you were there at the time but I deeply appreciate all of the hard work and care. I have been a teacher for 11 years but want to be an nurse now. Thank you.
Hi I am from NC also!
I am slowly taking prereqs, working towards starting clinicals either fall '07 or Spring '08, whatever our budget ends up allowing :chuckle I am happily married, 31, mommy to 2 munchkins.My DS is 2 and my DD is 7. I work in prenatal genetics( 1 day a week ). I have been interested in NICU nursing for about 5 yrs. Almost started NS 3 yrs ago, but decided I wanted a baby first! NOW, I am done having little ones and looking forward to school. In the meanwhile...I'll be lurking. I love this board, it encourages me when I run into obsticles, or get down about the Loooooooong road ahead! Thanks :)
) I have lots of animals and plenty of hobbies. This makes my tenth year as a nurse, I was med/surg for the first three, then became wise and landed in the NICU. Thank you Lord! Anyway, I love my job, and believe this is the place for me to retire. My unit is a 28 bed level II in a private Baptist hospital. Our patients are from areas around the central part of the state and as far a the hills of eastern KY. Some of our parents have to drive three hours one way! My unit has many long timers (nurses) some have worked there for 35 years or more! That gives you an idea of what our unit is like. (we like it) Two years ago I took a full time line and began taking vents, sicker kids, etc. I love it, but it has it's challanges. I sometimes get very attatched to babies and parents and go to an occassional birthday party here and there for one our babies after they are discharged and return to their new lives! I love working with babies, and will always be involved with them in some way or the other.
, I've worked in a variety of units, but mostly the same hospital until I retired 3 years ago. I worked for ~22 yrs in a L3, 40 bed unit. I now work in a smaller L2 (10 beds), smaller hosp closer to home. It's great--so much less stress. I work about 2 shifts/wk, doubles what I get in my pension, so gives me $$ to do stuff for the house and have fun.
nicunrs_in making
8 Posts
I will be starting nursing school in the fall at North Carolina Central University. I would like to do an externship next summer in Chicago where I plan to relocate. I have two children ages 4 and 7. My 4 y/o will be going to kindergarden this year. Other than that I work in a Medical/Surgical/Coronary Intensive care unit at a hospital in Durham.