To be a pediatric nurse or not to be?

picurn10 · Dec 30, 2010

I've been a peds nurse for about 18mo and recently moved to PICU. I love it! It is hard to see kids die, but for me the child abuse and tragic injuries are the tougher part. I'm still trying to figure out how to decompress from the things we see, but IMO any field you go into you will likely lose pts so why not be with the ones you most enjoy caring for.

From what I can tell, it doesn't seem that many kids on the regular floors die. Of course it happens, but its not a super common situation. In our hospital, those kids typically are transferred to PICU when they start getting sick, and rarely just code and die on the floor. I would think that might be a better place to start and see how it is.

I hear all the time from nurses and other people "I could never work with kids, it would be too sad" but I think if you truly love kids, then its wonderful to get a chance to make things better for them.

littleneoRN · Jan 5, 2011

If this is something that is tough for you, you could work in a lower acuity peds floor at a community hospital, as opposed to a higher acuity peds area at a children's hospital/university/etc. Some hospitals in our area admit kids for more routine, lower risk admissions but transfer to a pediatric facility for more acute kids. You might be less likely to encounter death/sad things on a regular basis. More of these kids will be healthier kids having lower risk surgeries, RSV/pneumonia, jaundice, rotovirus, etc. Yes, they are sick, but most of them will go on home and be just fine when you've got them patched up. :)

NeoPediRN · Jan 8, 2011

As the PPs have said, you can really create your own experience. I started off in a community hospital setting. I took care of mostly seasonal respiratory/asthma patients, GI bugs/dehydration, minor surgeries like appendectomies, skin infections, jaundiced babies who needed phototherapy, and orthopedic traumas that were admitted after surgery. It was pretty easy, the patients were straight forward and usually were discharged in a couple days. I never lost a single child.

Though I liked my job, I really saw myself as a critical care nurse. I took a job in a pedi step-down unit with very sick kids, most of who are on ventilators and have tracheostomies. Many have complex medical problems and several of them we know definitely aren't going to make it. It's can be emotionally draining at times but it's also very rewarding. For me it's about quality of life. A child who is too sick to ever enjoy living or to feel anything but pain and suffering deserves more than anything on this earth can give them. I believe in heaven and I believe God has a special place for them up there. Yes it's sad, and it's okay to feel emotional over it. The truth is that not very child lives, but as a nurse you have the ability to make those final moments peaceful, to be a source of support for the families, and to help them see it is still their child behind all the tubes and wires.

Only you can decide if pediatric nursing is right for you. Just know that no matter what field you choose, there will always be situations that break your heart, just as there will be situations that renew your faith.

HazelLPN, LPN · Jan 11, 2011

I did PICU and NICU for the final 17 years of my career after taking care of adults for more than 30 years. I wish I had done peds earlier than later because adult ICU can be very hard on your body and often times you are dealing with chronic type patients who never get better (especially if you work MICU). Most of the kids do get better...and they are (generally) much faster to heal than adults. PICU is also the place where you really see just about everything...and I found it to be the most rewarding years of my career. You do see some sad things, but you know that they are in the best possible place that they could be in and you are giving them the best possible care that can be given. Knee replacement surgery forced me into complete retirement nearly a year and a half ago after working the final five years purely contingent. There are days that I really miss nursing..and I usually think about my PICU years vs the other types of nursing that I did. The only time I think about NICU nursing is when I have nightmares! (dreams about forgetting to feed a baby, having a 25 weeker on a vent crawl out of the warming bed and into the pyxis, not realizing that I had another patient until he shift was over....it goes on and on)

Best wishes on your career in nursing!

Mrs H.

PediNurse3 · Jul 14, 2011

I know that this is an old thread but wanted to chime in. :)

I went from an adult ER to the PICU. I MUCH prefer the pediatric population over adults but I DO NOT LIKE PI. There is just too much sadness for me. I have seen a lot of kids (most of them, actually) get better, but I had a horrible couple of months where it was like a black cloud just followed me around and I could not take it anymore.

There is definitely more the pediatric nursing than the PICU though. There's med/surg, OR, clinic, transplant, etc. Many of my coworkers have been in PI for years and years and love it. I had a discussion with a couple of them and one of our NPs the other day and they all told me that they couldn't remember the last time that they cried about something sad that happened on the unit. PICU just wasn't for me.