Shadowing

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I'm trying to find a pediatric nurse to shadow to follow but how??The shadowing program at the hospital I'm interested in says I have to find my own mentor/nurse to follow. Huh? How do I do that? I can't just walk into a locked pediatric unit and say who wants to mentor me? Very frusturated. Any ideas/suggestions?

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Call the switchboard of the hospital and ask to be connected to the manager/head nurse of the pediatric unit you'd like to shadow on. S/he will be able to help you out with finding someone.

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Specializes in Pedi.

Do you know anyone who works at said hospital? If so, that person probably knows or could find out who the manager of the pediatric floor is. If not, call the hospital and ask to be either connected directly to the manager or to the floor and ask whoever answers the phone who the manager is and his/her email address.

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Specializes in PICU, Sedation/Radiology, PACU.

Are you in nursing school? Contact the instructor of the pediatric course or clinicals. They should know lots of nurses and connections on the peds units and help you get in touch with someone.

If not, I'd suggest calling the hospital and asking for the extension to the pediatric unit. Then ask to speak with the nurse manager. Explain why you're calling and ask for her help in setting up a shadowing experience.

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Is it possible to shadow a pediatric nurse without any kind of nursing background? I Just want to see what all they do and make sure it is what I want to do.

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Is it possible to shadow a pediatric nurse without any kind of nursing background? I Just want to see what all they do and make sure it is what I want to do.

I think you need to provide more information on your background. Are you in high school? Are you thinking of applying to nursing school?

If you are thinking of going into nursing school you will be doing a rotation in peds, so you will have the opportunity to shadow then. I am in nursing school now and I'm starting my peds rotation in the fall. I want to be an ER nurse, but my school does not do a rotation in the ER, so I bugged and bugged and bugged my clinical instructor to send my to the ER. It's also here in NYC so I was able to see the chaos that goes on (which I love) in a busy ER in the city and now I am sure thats what I do want to do.

If you are in high school, call your local hospital and ask if it is possible for you to volunteer in the pediatric department. If they try to send you to a different department, try to volunteer at a different hospital. I say this because I called to volunteer in the ER and they tried to send me to a different department. I've heard they are protective in peds, for the security of the babies, so I don't know how easy it would be to volunteer. I don't know how true this is. Also, I know A LOT of girls in my program want to work in peds, so it may be more competitive to get a volunteer position there. It's worth a shot to volunteer, especially if you believe this is what you may want to do for the rest of your life! Good luck! :)

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Thank for all the information! I will definitely look into volunteering! I am about to start senior year in high school! I am almost positive I'm going into nursing. I just wanted to see what all is done. Working with kids is a huge passion of mine, it's my dream job. I've also heard that it is very hard to get into Pediatrics. Hopefully I can do good enough in nursing school to work my dream job!

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

I've merged two very similar threads for continuity and for more clarity.

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Yes I'm in nursing school. I will be starting the 2nd year of my ADN program in the fall. Thank you for all the good advice :)

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