Summer externship in PICU - any advice?

[Nepenthe Sea]

I have just been selected for a position in a nursing externship program this summer. I will be spending 6 weeks in Neonatal ICU, two weeks in PICU, and two weeks in MICU. And I get paid, which makes it even more exciting. However, outside of clinicals (I'm in the midst of my second semester of clinicals), I don't have any health care experience. I'm a little nervous, as you can imagine. Do any of you have any advice for me? Things to do or NOT to do? I appreciate anything you can tell me.

Thanks in advance!

[Annaiya, NP]

My advice is to make sure you get plenty of sleep the nights before you work and ask questions about anything you don't know. If there isn't time to answer all of your questions, look stuff up once you get home. If there is something unusual or intersting going on, don't be afraid to ask if you can go watch. Try to always know why they are doing something, not just how to do a particular task. You will be amazed at how much you can learn in such a short amount of time.

[cjcsoon2bnp, MSN, RN, NP]

I'm trying to set up my own internship type experience in the NICU of a hospital I live by and I am wondering as a nursing student what you would be doing in the NICU so that when I try to do this then I know what I should be trying to do. For me this would be a non-paid, volunteer type experience so I am trying to come up with something to purpose to them.

!Chris

[lei7]

Be 100% professional, present yourself with confidence, study, and ask questions!

[txsummerRN]

All great advice! During my ICU externship I always worked under an RN. I could give some medications, chart, work on my assessment skills, learn more about interacting with the health care team, learn about reading EKGs and interpreting lab values, practice procedures, etc etc. The bedside nurse was always right there to help me learn. Ultimately, the RN you work with will be responsible for the patient, not you, so it's a great way to learn as much as you can without so much of the pressure to get everything right. So I say have fun! This experience will make your transition to graduate nurse much easier! Congrats!

[Nepenthe Sea]

Just wanted to give an update. I am about to start my second week of PICU, and I love it there! We have had several head injuries (one being a toddler that fell from a third story window), a CP kid with pneumonia, an intrathecal chemo outpatient, and a case of SLE that went into renal failure. I like the variety here, and I almost think I like it better than NICU (my first love). Thanks for the advice!