uh-oh, do I have the right personality for NICU??

[Shanlee79]

Hello lovely NICU nurses!

I have been accepted to do my final practicum at our Children's hospital level 3 NICU and when I shared my good news with my mother n' law she asked..."are you sure you have the right personality for that unit??" You see, she worked as a social worker for 30 plus years at this hospital and is familiar with the unit. Her impression was that you need to be a "very anal, type-A personality" to work here, to which I am not. She also said to me..."I always pictured you in emerg" and even though it's a little too late now, I had conteplated Children's emerg as well. In the end I chose NICU b/c of my curiousity for intensive care and I am really looking foward to that focused one-on-one patient learning.

So...now I am nervous. I know she means well but I am wondering maybe I don't have the right personality??

[BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN]

Never said to move an unstable kid to clean up the bed, but when they are stable, a neat and clean bed goes a long way to make the family happy. There is a lot they can't control and it is a lot of years of experience that have shown if the baby looks clean and neat, the parents are a lot calmer. Same for the bedside.

The number one complaint I get as a charge nurse, besides parents telling me that the nurses tell them not to touch their kids (ok..so the kid sats like 10 when you get near the bed, but I digress) is that the baby looks awful when X nurse takes care of their baby. Translation...the bed and the baby are a mess.

[littleneoRN]

I would not consider myself a total type A in my life in general. I am fairly flexible and willing to go with the flow in a lot of ways, which is actually very important in any area of nursing because things are always changing and sometimes you have to think outside the box to meet your patient's needs. So far flung Type As also struggle even environments that you think need to be very type A.

On the other hand, the longer I work in NICU, the more the anal I have become about certain things at work. I find my abilities to be flexible and go with the flow very important, but I've also learned to be quite anal with things like tangled lines, breast milk storage, etc. I've learned to be anal about these things because you don't want a line accidentally pulled out when you turn a patient...and if your baby goes sour you want to be able to easily identify what is where and where you can put in meds quickly. You have learn to be anal enough to care about things like being exact with small volumes or noticing small changes in your assessment. BUT...I developed all these things when I entered the nursing profession.

If you think you're completely incapable of being anal where you need to, then maybe ICU isn't for you. But then you have to think about where it's ok for a nurse to not deal with any details. (I propose nowhere?) If you think you tend to be flexible and go with the flow but can be detail-oriented when you need to...then welcome to NICU.

[Shanlee79]

I would not consider myself a total type A in my life in general. I am fairly flexible and willing to go with the flow in a lot of ways, which is actually very important in any area of nursing because things are always changing and sometimes you have to think outside the box to meet your patient's needs. So far flung Type As also struggle even environments that you think need to be very type A.

On the other hand, the longer I work in NICU, the more the anal I have become about certain things at work. I find my abilities to be flexible and go with the flow very important, but I've also learned to be quite anal with things like tangled lines, breast milk storage, etc. I've learned to be anal about these things because you don't want a line accidentally pulled out when you turn a patient...and if your baby goes sour you want to be able to easily identify what is where and where you can put in meds quickly. You have learn to be anal enough to care about things like being exact with small volumes or noticing small changes in your assessment. BUT...I developed all these things when I entered the nursing profession.

If you think you're completely incapable of being anal where you need to, then maybe ICU isn't for you. But then you have to think about where it's ok for a nurse to not deal with any details. (I propose nowhere?) If you think you tend to be flexible and go with the flow but can be detail-oriented when you need to...then welcome to NICU.

Thankyou...and nicely put! I think when the comment was said to me by my mother-in-law, I didn't know quite what to say as I was caught off gaurd. But the way you explained it was perfect! I am the type of person who is typically 'go with the flow', I never noticed this until an instructor complimented me on my adaptability and ability to remain composed under stress. I thought it was no biggie, but then again I didn't have many chances to compare myself to other students. I believe these traits are due to the maturity I bring with me.

Anywho...as I was saying, I am flexible but in a given situation, I enjoy being in control & on-top of things. I guess that's why I really enjoyed being a student--having only 1-2 patients, allowing the time to learn every detail and pick-up on things immediately. I think that is what drew me to the ICU, I couldn't see myself running around with 6-7 patients....so my hats off to floor nurses for sure!!

I think I was a little extra sensitive with my MIL's comment due to the natural jitters I am feeing, but I am feeling much more reassured that I may just be A-Okay afterall. Thanks again for your reply!