Adult Med-Surg to the NICU | RN Edition
I want to share my journey of transitioning from a Medical-Surgical (Med-Surg) RN, to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) RN…my dream job. There were times when I thought I would never get hired for my dream job. Nevertheless, my patience and willingness to learn different skill sets helped me to build the framework to become a proficient and compassionate nurse, all around. Let’s begin…
Adult Med-Surg
March, 2017 was the start of my nursing career at a New Nurse Residency Program in Altamonte Springs, Florida, on the Med-Surg Unit. It was far-fetched from being in the NICU, but I recalled being told in nursing school that Med-Surg positions were known as the foundation of nursing. Therefore, I knew that I would learn the overall basics of nursing and then some. I am grateful for having amazing preceptors and for working on night shifts, which also had the best crew members, in my opinion.
Med-Surg taught me a lot! Working there was, at times, very overwhelming and exhausting. I had up to six patients each night with various medical conditions, e.g., sickle cell anemia, diabetes, renal failure, infections, surgical appendectomies, etc. I would usually leave work after 8:00 AM each morning.
All in all, Med-Surg was my least favorite unit to work on. After a year and four months, it was time to move on to a new adventure, which was Mother-Baby.
Mother-Baby (Postpartum)
In July of 2018, I started working in the Mother-Baby Unit in Orlando, Florida. I was no longer overwhelmed or exhausted at work. I was actually happy and left work before 8:00 AM! Witnessing new life, new parents, and all of their special moments were by far the most rewarding gifts that I could ever receive from any unit.
I had great preceptors and met some amazing people, as well. Besides caring for the mom who had just given birth, I had to learn to care for a whole new person…the newborn infant. People assumed that the only things Mother-Baby nurses did was feed babies and gave the moms ibuprofen or colace, but they were WRONG! You were now required to take care of the mom and the baby (or babies) as separate patients!!!
Thank goodness I had excellent time management skills, which I learned from working in Med-Surg. All in all, I really liked working in Mother-Baby, especially caring for the babies.
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
I finally landed my dream job in January of 2020, as a NICU-RN, at a children’s hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. I started out working in low acuity (patients with less serious/urgent conditions) for about a year, just to get my feet wet. These tiny patients are mostly feeder growers and/or on room air or low oxygen support. I really connected with the parents and taught them essential techniques, e.g., pacing the infants during feedings to prevent them from aspirating, safe sleep practices, and more. I met wonderful, thoughtful parents who gave heartwarming gifts as tokens of appreciation.
Next, I wanted to be trained in high acuity (patients with serious/urgent conditions), especially since I was thinking about travel nursing. Working in high acuity was definitely more intense than low acuity. I preferred to care for the chronic babies, who had been in NICU for a while and/or the tracheotomy babies. The toughest parts of working in NICU are not being able to magically cure/heal the babies and having to witness infant bereavement care. On the contrary, it is such a delight watching the tiny little patients grow, fight through their recovery, and become strong enough to go home with their families.
All in all, I absolutely love the NICU. These babies are like my own babies. I “care for” and “love on” them, as if they were mine. So, why not spread all of that love across the country as a traveling NICU nurse!
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