What I Wanna Be

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Sep 16, 2006

PICU nurses aren't there when babies are delivered. PICU nurses don't even usually look after very newborns. Our unit is primarily a cardiovascular surgical unit and we do look after neonates for a few days. However, it's something that usually is reserved for the more senior nurses.

Pediatric nursing is taught in nursing school, at least to a certain extent. Then you get a job on a pediatric unit and develop it further. Some PICUs will hire new grads and give them an extensive orientation. I must tell you that there isn't a lot of interaction and playing with the kids in PICU; they're too sick to play and are usually very heavily sedated. You spend far more time teaching the parents and supporting their needs than you do playing with kids. You might be happier on a general peds unit, a rehab setting, or an intermediate care nursery.

There is a pediatric forum here that you could check into too.

jenpicuRN · Sep 19, 2006

If you want to be there when the babies are born...look into Labor and Delivery. If you want to deal more with the babies then look into Well Baby Nursery. If you want toddlers and up look into a floor at a pediatric hospital or a basic pediatric floor at any hospital. If you are looking to play with the kids and interact with them PICU is not the place. These children are too sick.

Nahbee · Sep 23, 2006

You'll get to experience different areas while doing clinicals in nursing school, but if you want to become a peds nurse after you graduate, I would suggest getting a job as a student nurse extern on a peds unit part-time during school, or the holidays, and full-time in the summer. A lot of hospitals have these opportunities, and this is a great way to get your foot in the door once you do graduate and to also make sure peds nursing or PICU nursing is really what you want to do once you're an RN. Hope this helps!

abq rn · Oct 10, 2006

I am 10 months away from graduation and I have gotten “the nod” from the PICU charge nurses that I will be hired right after graduation into the unit. Although I have been working in the Pediatric ED for 5 years I must admit I am a bit nervous. I know I will not be sent to sink or swim by the unit nurses but it is a tremendous responsibility. I hear many of the students in my class talk about working with kids but I don’t think they really have an understanding of what it involves. Please please if you don’t have some understanding of what you are getting in to DON’T go in to the PICU. It’s not the place to figure out what you want to do or a place to play with the kids. The work is exacting and errors are not permitted and the patients are truly sick.