Transfering to peds- what to review?

[Roberta88]

Hello everyone! I have been a night-time ortho nurse for a little over a year now (my first nursing job) and am switching to day-time peds next week. While ortho has been good to me, I felt like it was time to move on to something I was really passionate about. I have been trying to review from my old text book but it is huge and I'm really not sure where to start. I know I can't learn everything in a week but I'd like to at least have the basics down to make my transition a little smoother. So far I've made flashcards of vital signs and maintenance IV fluid... other than that I've just been reading through my 2,000 page textbook incredibly slowly.

Any suggestions on what to review? I've looked through this forum quite a bit and have found a lot of suggestions for how to act but nothing specifically to review. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

The most important thing you can review is MATH. Because in peds, every drug, every IV rate is WEIGHT-BASED. So, instead of giving someone 650 mg. of Tylenol, you'll be giving 15 mg/kg/ dose. You need to get used to knowing every patient's weight in kg and the doses of common antibiotics and other drugs per kg of body weight.

Good luck - I LOVE my PICU job- the kids are awesome.

[lorichka6]

Everyone says drug stuff so I'll skip that. Make sure you know where your hospital's formulary is and be sure to use it. You may start using syringe pumps now for lots of meds. Depending on the nurse you talk to at my hospital the list of meds that are IVP is 1 long (toradol). Syringe pump for all others.

I'd get a table of VS norms by age group and put it on your badge. I also have the IV fluids calculation formula and expected urine output values on my badge.

It is respiratory season now so I'd make sure that you are comfortable with chest PT, nasal suctioning, deep suctioning and knowing when to do it. Read up on s/sx of respiratory distress in kiddos. The standards for bronchiolitis care have recently changed - make sure you know what your hospital is doing.

Get used to kneeling :) Practice IVs and sticks in little veins. Does your hospital have a Child Life staff? Know their number :) Peds STAT too if you've got that.

I'd also brush up quickly on developmental milestones.

And look on the bright side - most peds nurses hate ortho so you'll be a big help on your unit!