To CRNA/SRNA's who were 1st NICU nurses

Laughing Gas · May 31, 2005

ALICE-- I am assuming you mean neonatal not neuro.. if so, I am an NICU nurse who's husband is in CRNA school. I believe Case Western takes PICU experience and maybe NICU, not sure. However, from what I have seen, and especially depending on what level of NICU you work in, adult experience is very important. We get very little post op surgery ( I don't want a backlash of neonatal nurses here, I am just stating this in relativitly to SICU experience) few codes, little fluid resucitation in relation to the experience you would get elsewhere Especially if you have no adult experience whatsoever, ( med surg, etc.) this is very important. If you work someplace that is less than a level III, it is even more so. I would think it would be much tougher to go directly from the NICU.

After reading through postings on this site and browsing through CRNA school websites, it seems to me that NICU counts as ICU experience, although maybe not as strong as adult ICU experience would be. So I have some questions to CRNA/SRNA's who were first NICU nurses.
1. Did you find that your NICU experience made it harder for you to get accepted into CRNA school?
2. Did your NICU experience make it harder for you to keep up with the material taught in CRNA school?
3. If you can do it all over again, would you have chosen to work in adult ICU rather than NICU?
Thank you!

avery · May 31, 2005

After reading through postings on this site and browsing through CRNA school websites, it seems to me that NICU counts as ICU experience, although maybe not as strong as adult ICU experience would be. So I have some questions to CRNA/SRNA's who were first NICU nurses.
1. Did you find that your NICU experience made it harder for you to get accepted into CRNA school?
2. Did your NICU experience make it harder for you to keep up with the material taught in CRNA school?
3. If you can do it all over again, would you have chosen to work in adult ICU rather than NICU?
Thank you!

Most schools that I have looked at strongly suggest adult ICU, especially the ones in your area. =o) I knew when I saw the post it was you! We talked about this last night at work. Glad to see you here.

jewelcutt · May 31, 2005

I had an NICU nurse friend (and a few others) who were told by our director to get some adult SICU experience because of the experiences needed (swans, recovering sick surgical patients, hemodynamics, gtts, etc). My friend did get a year of experience and it made her an even stronger applicant because she had both neonatal and adults. If this is something you're planning, I would do it now, I really don't think you even need a year, just some experience. I think it would show how dedicated you were to getting in. Now in my class, we have two students who worked in a pediatric cardiovascular SICU. There are schools who take NICU experience (with no other experience), I just have noticed that it is somewhat rare. If you want to improve your chances, go to adult SICU.

apaisRN, RN, CRNA · May 31, 2005

The thing about NICU is that you can turn your head for a minute and they're down the tubes. They are SO fragile and volatile, and if you were to make a drug error you could kill one easy (possible but not as likely in adult ICU). The level of comfort with these fragile patients has got to be beneficial for anesthesia practice. Weight-based dosing calculation is a good skill too.

I don't take care of a lot of post-ops - I work in a MICU/CICU. We're the only academic medical center/ tertiary care in the area so I do get some sickies, but my only post-op patients were back on the general surg floor. Do the SRNAs and CRNAs here think this will slow me down? I do do swans, IABPs (not enough of either to feel totally comfortable), lots of drips and hemodynamics and of course tons of severe comorbid medical problems.

I've already been accepted, so that's not my question, and I guess Samuel Merritt thinks my experience will work just fine. But from the horse's mouth, will it be harder for me than the CT-surg or trauma ICU nurses?