You Know You're a NICU Nurse When...

Published

Saw this on a Facebook group.... funny, but SO true...

You know you are a NICU nurse when...

1. You've eaten hamburger patties bigger than most of your patients

2. You define colors by the color of stool you've seen- i.e. baby poop green/yellow

3. You don't understand why talking about sticking a needle in a baby's head is making other people at the dinner table ill

4. At one time or another have had breast milk, poop or urine on your work clothes

5. You have affectionately called a patient cletus the fetus, wimpy white boy, troll or FLK (funny lookin' kid) in report

6. You can change your patient's bed linens with one hand while holding your patient in the other

7. You can make an IV arm board out of some 4x4 gauze and tape

8. You've almost caught your hair on fire while in your patient's bed...a.k.a. radiant warmer

9. You've used a sock or a piece of tape for a restraint

10. You check out the scalp veins, cap refill and fontanels on a friend's new baby

11. You use a cotton ball to obtain urine samples

12. You use saran wrap to keep your food fresh and your patient's warm

13. You think all crying babies need benadryl, versed or intubation

14. You think the pulse oximeter, CPAP and those crappy no sticking leads were created by the devil

15. You have ever shown a doctor a green residual while they were eating

16. You have obtained a 10cc residual when the patient only gets 1cc

17. You have put an intensive care patient in a swing

18. You don't get excited if your patient has a heart rate of 180

19. You do chest compressions with two fingers

20. Most of your meds come in TB/1cc syringes

21. You prepare your patient's bath water in a Dixie cup

22. You draw blood from your patient's heel

23. You use a rubber band for a tourniquet

24. You've seen two complexes on EKG screen and not been excited-you merely pat your patient on the butt and it's all good

25. Newborn babies look like preschoolers to you

26. You tell people what you do and they think you sit around and rock babies all day

27. When you tell people what you really do they start to cry and/or vomit

28. You have assisted with surgery on your patient in their bed and on the unit

29. You have at one time or another in the heat of frustration threatened to throw your patient in the trash can

30. You have considered using duct tape to hold a pacifier in a screaming baby's mouth

31. You have met your patient's father, mother's boyfriend, and husband all in one day

32. You have made a mental note that no matter how stupid people are they still know how to get their groove on

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11097554174

Specializes in ER, NICU, NSY and some other stuff.
Hmm, our 8th floor windows don't open either. But there is always the pneumatic tube system with it's 1 kilo weight limit!

I have on more than oe occasion threatened to tube patients to the lab.

Especially when the new lab tech who will only accept the "perfect specimen" call for the 3rd redraw from my 500gm baby, or that cranky gut kiddo....

You actually groan inwardly at the thought of higher order multiples. (goodness...triplets AGAIN?!) Whereas the rest of the population seems to think it is sooo neat and cute...the more the better.

Specializes in Level III NICU.
You actually groan inwardly at the thought of higher order multiples. (goodness...triplets AGAIN?!) Whereas the rest of the population seems to think it is sooo neat and cute...the more the better.

I have a friend who is always saying that she would love to have twins or triplets. I think she's nuts.

#19 sucks.................a lot.

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

Oh, those are all good LOL

You threaten to take the security band off that screaming chronic and put him in the hall with a sign that says TAKE ME....and you know darn well they'd get to the elevator and bring him back! LOL

Or you loving look at those wonderful forehead veins on your baby or a friends and think, Oh if only they all had such beauties :)

And then you thread a #26 angio into something that closely resembles that spider vein growing down your leg, only that may be bigger!

got a urine shower the other day, myself, from a bitty girl, no less. how she managed that, i don't know. fortunately it was near the end of the shift and i went home and took a looong shower, but i couldn't help thinking that if the same thing had happened with a grown-up patient, i'd have stripped right down and had the hazmat team set up a shower right there on the spot :chuckle.

i had one pee on me at 8 in the morning! thats always a great way to start the day.

Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

When I first met my son in the NICU, one of the things that impressed me was that this

Specializes in NICU and neonatal transport.

...you've ever been freaked out seeing an adult (or even small child!) sized ETT.

...your bladder is bigger than your patient.

...you've had daydreams of smacking parents on the head with a bendybar.

...at least one of your patients has been on tv/in the paper as a miracle baby.

...you've ever got a medic opinion on a baby that's 'just not quite right' and find it hard to explain how you know the baby is obviously septic/had a bleed/got NEC with the most vague symptoms.

Argh, first night tiredness is not helping my brain :mad:

Specializes in NICU.
Or you ever get breastmilk in your eye. Been in the NICU over 2 years now and that happened to me last night for the first (and hopefully the last) time :barf01:

I just have to resurrect this old thread to tell this story:

The other day I was standing across an open crib from a colleague chatting. She aspirated her kid's NGT prior to a feed. She was expelling the air from the syringe prior to refeeding the aspirate. And a drop just... flew out of the syringe and landed in my OPEN MOUTH.

Partially. Digested. Breast milk. In my mouth. First time I've actually vomited at work 2/2 something gross.

Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.
Partially. Digested. Breast milk. In my mouth. First time I've actually vomited at work 2/2 something gross.

Just think of all those antibodies you missed out on in that drop...:D

Just think of all those antibodies you missed out on in that drop...:D

Thanks Elvish, I almost choked on my tea after reading this comment!!!

Specializes in Level III NICU.
I just have to resurrect this old thread to tell this story:

The other day I was standing across an open crib from a colleague chatting. She aspirated her kid's NGT prior to a feed. She was expelling the air from the syringe prior to refeeding the aspirate. And a drop just... flew out of the syringe and landed in my OPEN MOUTH.

Partially. Digested. Breast milk. In my mouth. First time I've actually vomited at work 2/2 something gross.

Ew. I once had a booger land on my lip. I was using a bulb syringe and squirting the boogies out onto a piece of gauze, and one ricocheted off the gauze and right onto my lip. That was gross. You all know what kind of stuff you can get out of a kid's nose. It's amazing sometimes how they can even breathe!

+ Join the Discussion