Specalized feilds

SteveNNP, MSN, NP · Oct 30, 2007

Are you a new grad RN or NP? I would hesitate to take a NP position in the NICU, especially right out of school. You REALLY need to know what you're doing to work in that environment. If you're an RN, you need to repost in either the new grad forum, or NICU forum.... You don't HAVE to have experience to work in NICU as a new grad RN, although it does help your time managment and critical thinking skills....

elkpark · Oct 30, 2007

Help-I graduate in Dec 07 and have been offered a job in the NICU. I really don't think that I am prepared for this position coming right out of school, but I can't imagine that they would be offering new grads these positions if they didn't feel confident that they would be able to handle it. I'm not real sure what to think, any advice would be very helpfull. Or any recomendations on how to prepare for the first day in a job like this would be great.

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2: Welcome to the wonderful world of nursing. :uhoh21: It depends on the individual facility -- there are plenty of hospitals out there that will not hesitate to hire new graduates into positions/circumstances in which they're likely to fail and then tell you it's your fault when you do ... I'm not saying that it would always be a mistake to take a job in a specialty area as a new grad, and you can also be "set up to fail" on general med-surg units. It depends on what kind of orientation and support you're going to be offered.

If you are seriously interested in the NICU position, ask a lot of questions about what kind of orientation they offer, if you'll have a specific preceptor and for how long, etc. One good idea is to request (demand :)) to speak (privately) with some of the current employees; in this case, I would recommend talking with the newest hire (nurse) in the unit (regardless of how experienced that person is) and the last person they hired as a new grad (however long ago that was), and ask them about what their experiences were of orientation and getting acclimated to the new job, and their general experiences with the facility as an employer. Also ask them about how much turnover there is on the unit, and if other new grads have been hired who ended up leaving after a short period of time (these are important questions to which you're not likely to get straight answers from administration). This information will help you make a good decision about whether this is a job you want to try.

If worse comes to worse and you end up leaving the job quickly, that's not the end of the world -- it's not that uncommon for new grads to have to (or choose to) "shop around" a little before they find a position that is a good fit. You don't want to do that any more than absolutely necessary, though -- better to put the effort into making the best choice you can in the first place.

Congratulations on your upcoming graduation, and best wishes with the job-hunting.