Massachusetts Nurses

[shy little mouse]

WOW!!! I second the observations that Disney Doll and others have brought up. I am certain your attitude is very apparent to those doing the hiring. I would not hire you if I was the manager of a unit or recommend you for hire as a member of the unit's peer interviewers. It is dangerous to believe that you have special skills as a new grad; you know nothing! There is a very fine line between being confident in your ability to do the job and being overconfident as a novice nurse. It is so important to know when you need help, rather than assuming that you are a nursing superstar. That is one of the skills developed in clinical practice. Prioritization and clinical judgement can be developed as you advance from novice to advanced beginner and beyond in any and all areas. Yes, even that terrible dump, med-surg.

I realize that what I am saying is harsh, but I am working on a Masters in Nursing Business, and have held a management position (which I left to return to bedside nursing). The other nurses on this thread and I have seen lots of new grads. The most successful new grads realize that their first nursing job probably won't be their dream come true, but buckle down, learn all they can, and move on when the opportunity arises. In fact, there are so many career choices in nursing, that most nurses work in many different kinds of units or settings before their retirement. I am a die hard night shifter, and get tired of hearing new grads complain about having to pay their dues working nights or jobs they don't like. My coworkers and I have also discussed the work ethic and attitudes of younger workers. I have no idea how old you are, but the attitude of "I want what I want now" is much more common among the under 30 set. It gets old to those of us who have paid our dues. Work is not always going to be fun, even if you end up in the NICU. Nursing can be very emotionally and physically draining. The first time you get your behind chewed by a doctor, lose a patient, or work 5 12 hour shifts in a row, you will see that it is not everything you imagined in school. Reality can be tough at times.

You have expressed that facilities are taking internal applicants and hiring based on union seniority . Well, obviously you need to get your foot in the door at an institution that you highly respect, and build some seniority to obtain that coveted NICU position. I didn't say med-surg, necessarily, but maybe peds or labor/delivery. As others stated, very few new grads end up in specialty areas right off the bat. You have been offered a lot of good advice on this thread. The nursing labor market for new grads does have cyclical patterns. For now, concentrate on getting a position, not your dream job. A little respect for those nurses that have gone before you will go a long way in the interview process.

BTW, my mother, in her 50's, works med-surg. I think she is tough. She plans on going back after she recovers from her bone marrow transplant for leukemia. I work intermediate care (step down with cardiac and dialysis patients). I have worked many other floors (expect ER, peds, oncology, and labor/delivery). I am always thinking about what I will do next and planning ahead. I thought I wanted to be in management when I started my Masters. Three years later, I am not so sure anymore. Starting out in one area does not mean you will stay there for life.

 

[shy little mouse]

I can tell you, about Boston anyway.

They're just like yours - insane but wonderful. There is a very high expectation of what type of nursing care will be delivered. Slackers need not apply. "Not getting to something" is really not an option. You must get to it, regardless of what it is, and that includes anything from helping someone get comfortable, to speaking with family members, to troubleshooting equipment, to starting a nitro or other drip, to attending an inservice in the middle of the shift, to helping new docs understand procedures, to training a new nurse, to planning staffing for the next shift, to fielding phone calls when there's no secretary, to doing all of your own vitals, bed changes, foley emptying and countless other things when there's no aide, to figuring out how to perform a complicated procedure you've never done before, to thinking critically and taking action when you are asked to do something that you don't feel is correct, to, well, you name it... Staffing levels (in my hospital, anyway) are such that you should be able to, unless the unforseen happens, at which time your co-workers will back you up (and if this doesn't happen, that's a problem, but generally it does). Oh yes, and no matter how busy your shift has been, your documentation must be stellar.

Yes, how about that evening shift? Family are visiting and want to speak with you; patients are coming back from procedures having not eaten all day and are hungry and quite possibly irritated, need fingersticks, meals, want to phone home, etc, and you have to make that patient feel comfortable and cared about, while at the same time taking off post procedure orders correctly and completely, assessing the patient to make sure they're stable (because the report you got isn't quite making sense), possibly dealing with hypotension, a groin or dressing bleed, vagal episode, vomiting, rigoring, etc, but really all the patient wants is to eat - how do you deal with that?; the ER is on the phone wanting to give you report on your new admission now, and someone mentions this is the third time they've called (which is news to you); another patient you have, ie the "stable/quite one", is reporting chest pain, has fallen on the floor, is becoming confused, has a BP or 210/108, has a fingerstick of 32, has a critical lab value back, a K of 6.3, just had a run of VT, you name it, something always goes wrong yet you have to deal with it in the midst of everything else, and just when you do, your ER admission rolls onto the unit and isn't happy about the 9 hour wait on a stretcher all day and would like to eat, use the bathroom (but needs help), and hasn't taken any of his pills all day but wants them now and you have to explain that the doc must write orders and pharmacy has to approve them before you can give anything, etc. My job, in additon to all this, throws in the task of supervising the care given, troubleshooting any problems that come along, teaching, handholding whoever needs it, staffing for the next shift (which in and of itself can be an overwhelming task), and a myriad of other things. Welcome to Evenings!

Seem overwhelming? You got it! Nurses who do it make it look easy, but I can assure you, it ain't.

If anyone wonders why Med-Surg nurses get defensive, especially when criticized by new nurses who've never done it in the real world, now you know. Nurses who do are highly skilled at managing many things at once. The best complement any nurse can get is when a patient is happy with the care they received. Most patients have no idea how many things that nurse juggled that shift, so if they had all their needs met, then that nurse did a nice job. Some nurses will even volunteer to take the most difficult patients, which makes it even more remarkable when they are able to do everything required of them and more.

I can assure you there is nothing less pleasant than working with a whiny or lazy nurse who does not want to pull his or her weight on any given shift. Other nurses do not take kindly to this. Nor do they take kindly to new grads coming in to a unit spouting off that they really wanted an ICU job but took this as the "consolation" position so they can learn and move on - do you really think, knowing this and feeling that kind of "dig" to the work they've chosen for whatever reason, that the majority of nurses are going to "take you under their wing", develop a relationship with you, spend countless hours helping you, knowing it's kind of "below" you to begin with? I've seen this type of nurse many times and they're often the ones who think it's below them to give basic care - don't fool yourself, patients, and even the aides pick up on this and will develop a dislike of you if you're always asking them to do your dirty work. I say this because I'm trying to explain why you're getting some of the reactions you did and hopefully you take it in the helpful spirit it is given. None of us know you personally, obviously, and you sound very bright and enthusiastic (like many of today's new nurses), but we're all picking up that your condascending tone may be the thing that's hindering you're getting a position. A little humility will probably go a long way here. There will come a time later when you can be the greatest NICU nurse the unit has ever seen. But for the next few years, you should concentrate on learning the basics, and I do mean basics, wherever you ultimately work. Remember, everything we do is driven by what's best for the patient.

Sorry so long... as you can tell, it's a passionate subject for many of us.

Amen, sister nurse! Add charge nurse on top of that dealing with unhappy families, nurses who don't like their assignments, and the constant push to receive admissions, and you have a typical 12 hour night shift, lol. Although I am sure you and I have left out so many other things we do. I guess we make it look easy or something.

 

[PediNurse]

Just curious if you are an AD or BSN grad?

Pea-N-Me, I'm BSN.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Amen, sister nurse! Add charge nurse on top of that dealing with unhappy families, nurses who don't like their assignments, and the constant push to receive admissions, and you have a typical 12 hour night shift, lol. Although I am sure you and I have left out so many other things we do. I guess we make it look easy or something.

I agree. Excellent post above, btw.

I just want to add that over the years I've taken many new nurses under my wing. It's something I enjoy doing, and have had my personal rewards from doing so by seeing their growth, or hearing them tell a story to a subsequent new nurse that I had taught them that way back when, etc. Many, many nurses are the same way. Which is why it hurts to hear that "nurses eat their young", there are bad habits (whatever that means ), older nurses aren't welcoming to new grads, etc.

My favorite type of new nurse is one who comes in well versed in theory and ready to roll up his or her sleeves, delve in and learn; wholeheartedly willing and able to "get their hands dirty". Not overly or under confident. Not only pleasant to patients, but one who really enjoys patients. No immediate/alternative aspirations other than learning the job at hand. Put those elements together and we are going to have a great experience.

I'm BSN.

This will be in your favor in Boston. Hang in there, you will find something.

 

[PediNurse]

This conversation has too much potential to go sour so I'm going to bow out now. DisneyDoll is going to repeatedly twist my words - I never said being a tech was the same as a nurse - they are worlds apart, I said that the term is used frequently and regularly by nurses I work with. Anyway, you med-surg nurses have an extremely difficult job. I think it's amazing you can handle 12 patients, but that's exactly why I don't want to start in med-surg. I don't want to be thrown into the mix and put my license at risk by trying to prioritize for 12 patients, half of which I'm sure have serious potential to go down the tubes. I want structure among chaos. Whether you're offended about "unlearning" adult patients and systems in med-surg to go to the NICU, there's not much room to argue that caring for micropreemie is fundamentally different from an adult med-surg patient. If that's offensive, I'm sorry, it's true. It doesn't mean that one is better than the other or should be held in higher regard. If you started off in the NICU and went to med-surg, you'd have a lot of unlearning to do there, too. Whew, glad you're not the nurse managers who will eventually interview me. Too quick to judge and that wouldn't be an environment I'd want to work in. There are so many new grads having difficulty finding a job, it's not just me or my so-called attitude. There aren't any positions TO interview for! Take care.

 

[mickeyboat]

I don't have a dog in this fight, so to speak, but I do have to agree with Doll and Pea and Shy, etc.

I can't think of any type of professional school graduate who goes into the professional world knowing everything they need to know about every specialty in their profession. There are inevitably certain guidelines that new graduates need to follow to gain the experience they need to specialize. You need to start on a med-surg floor - period.

Some seasoned nurses have explained this to you, OP, but you have completely disregarded their well-intended advice. These are the people who are going to teach you what you need to know to achieve your goal of being a NICU nurse. It might not be Doll, Pea or Shy, but it will be someone just like them - and your attitude is a real turn-off, and not at all what a hiring manager is looking for from a recent graduate - especially when it looks like there are many graduates to choose from in the market at this time.

My SIL is a nurse, was on a med-surg floor for many many years, and complained bitterly about the new nurses coming out of school without a lick of knowledge and understanding of what was expected to, with an expectation that someone else is going to do the hard jobs for them and without a shred of respect for her experience. Plus they were getting paid what it took her years to demand for a salary. Part of her job is to teach these people, but don't you think she would be more willing to teach someone who was thirsting for experience, who was anxious to hear what she had to say, instead of someone who thought she was teaching them bad habits and who was only biding her time until the dream job became available?

You have to embrace whatever you can whenever you can to get the experience you need. That may mean putting in some time in the trenches with a smile on your face and with a real desire to learn. I wish you the best of luck.

Denae

 

[shy little mouse]

This conversation has too much potential to go sour so I'm going to bow out now. DisneyDoll is going to repeatedly twist my words - I never said being a tech was the same as a nurse - they are worlds apart, I said that the term is used frequently and regularly by nurses I work with. Anyway, you med-surg nurses have an extremely difficult job. I think it's amazing you can handle 12 patients, but that's exactly why I don't want to start in med-surg. I don't want to be thrown into the mix and put my license at risk by trying to prioritize for 12 patients, half of which I'm sure have serious potential to go down the tubes. I want structure among chaos. Whether you're offended about "unlearning" adult patients and systems in med-surg to go to the NICU, there's not much room to argue that caring for micropreemie is fundamentally different from an adult med-surg patient. If that's offensive, I'm sorry, it's true. It doesn't mean that one is better than the other or should be held in higher regard. If you started off in the NICU and went to med-surg, you'd have a lot of unlearning to do there, too. Whew, glad you're not the nurse managers who will eventually interview me. Too quick to judge and that wouldn't be an environment I'd want to work in. There are so many new grads having difficulty finding a job, it's not just me or my so-called attitude. There aren't any positions TO interview for! Take care.

I guess you missed the part where I stated that I previously held a management position, and have sat on peer interviews where my input was taken into consideration in hiring decisions, as have many other nurses. Yes, the nursing job market is cyclical, and perhaps it is tight in your market. However, do not dismiss all of our advice just because it was not what you wanted to hear. As a new grad there will be many times when you need to have an open mind, even in the NICU. The advice we are giving you about entering the job market with a willingness to learn and with respect for others is very important. Rather than labeling us (the nurses providing you with advice on this thread) as being too harsh, consider that we are doing you a favor and giving you some real world advice. It is better that you hear this now rather than 5 more interviews down the road after missing out on an opportunity, or after completing 5 weeks of orientation and your manager decides you are not a good fit for the unit due to attitude issues. We have all seen it happen, and obviously we do not all work at the same hospital on the same unit; we have a pretty wide diversity of experiences.

Good luck with your future endeavors.

 

[kpm76]

You know, there were times when I was reading this thread that I thought some posters were too quick to judge the OP, but I think you are actually doing her a favor by giving her some insight into the realities of the nursing profession. And if the OP thinks that the nurses on the thread are too quick to judge and are too harsh, wait until you have to deal with the docs!!! I'm not a nurse, but my MIL is one and my FIL is a surgeon so I get some interesting stories....

 

[arminnie]

I can assure you there is nothing less pleasant than working with a whiny or lazy nurse who does not want to pull his or her weight on any given shift. Other nurses do not take kindly to this .

Except perhaps being the patient of a nurse like that! But in all of my multiple hospital interactions for myself, family and friends this is EXTREMELY RARE. 99.9% of the nurses are just wonderful. I am amazed at what they get done under such unbelievable pressure.

 

[minkydog]

You know, there were times when I was reading this thread that I thought some posters were too quick to judge the OP, but I think you are actually doing her a favor by giving her some insight into the realities of the nursing profession. And if the OP thinks that the nurses on the thread are too quick to judge and are too harsh, wait until you have to deal with the docs!!!

You said a mouthful there! And believe me, graduate nurses are low man on the totem pole in their eyes. Just shy of the kitchen help.

OP, really we're not trying to pick on you. You sound like a lot of us did when we first graduated, all full of our college degrees and no real experience. It's an exciting and anxious time. At this point, just take any job you can get and make a pact with yourself to stay 1 year--you can do anything for a year. Throw yourself into the job and do the very best that you can. Then, if you want to move on you will have more to bring to the table than you have now and perhaps recruiters will be more willing to hear you out.

The great thing about nursing is that it is such a diverse field. Today I'm a school nurse, but all my previous experiences in ER, NICU, PICU, med/surg, peds and L&D have brought me to who I am today. As a new grad I could have never done this job--believe it or not, school nursing is very specialized. You need a LOT of experience to develop the judgement necessary to work "without a net." Perhaps instead of focusing on getting into NICU now(good luck with that!) think about all the different experiences you can accumulate. I've had some pretty bad nursing jobs and worked some crappy places, but all of them gave me more experience.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

Hi all,

My mom is a retired RN (she's nearly 70 now) and the list of stories she has to tell about "inept new nurses who think they know everything" is so incredibly long! I give kudos to all of you who have given the OP some perspective.

Speaking as a former and soon to be again patient, I can't tell you the number of times I've gotten the young whiny nurse and have wanted to throttle her myself! Fortunately for me, my mom has always been with me or a phone call away when I've been hospitalized and has either coached the new nurse or found "an old gal" (mom's words...not mine) who's been around the block and knows the score!

To all of you who are the "old gals" out there, please know that patients like me love you and appreciate what you do for us (even though we may not always show it). To all of you "young'uns" out there, IF you are fortunate enough to have a nurse with years of experience show you a thing or two, count your lucky stars and soak up all you can!

Finally, I will say that I do believe it is a generational thing. I've been interviewing recent college grads for 3 positions in my department and can't seem to find one that has the right attitude and work ethic. Forgive me, but showing up 30 minutes late on your 1st day speaks volumes and tells me that you will not last your probationary period! I've changed my tatic now and will ONLY consider college grads who have internship/externship experience and who have worked somewhere either during the summers or during the school year.

OP, good luck. As a non-nurse (but a parent) I can also say that I wouldn't want a "fresh out of school" nurse to be in a NICU. My mom used to work NICU and most of the nurses there had to be the tops in their field with lots of experience before going to the NICU. They have to be able to handle multiple stressors and I'm not convinced that anyone fresh out of schooling can do that!

OP, you may not feel that any of this applies to you and if that is the case, I am truly sorry for your patients. Trust me, older nurses don't have "bad habits" it's only the new, young, hotshot ones that do and they don't realize it!

 

[daisax]

As the daughter of a nurse and best friend to a nurse, I have to laugh at this thread. My friend loves to mentor, and she usually has enthusiastic students/trainees who are grateful to learn... but she also gets new grads who want to show HER how things are done. In the real world, inside or outside of nursing, that's not how things work.

think it's amazing you can handle 12 patients, but that's exactly why I don't want to start in med-surg. I don't want to be thrown into the mix and put my license at risk by trying to prioritize for 12 patients, half of which I'm sure have serious potential to go down the tubes.

You really, really need to take a hard look at what you've written here. Basically you're saying "space camp is not for me - I want to get right on the space shuttle."

You don't want to put your license at risk by trying to prioritize for 12 pts, half of which have the serious potential to go down the tubes, but you want to be put in charge of neonates who ALL have the serious potential to go down the tubes at any given second? Can you appreciate how preposterous that sounds?

I want structure among chaos.

That's lovely, but they don't NEED you. There are people with experience vying for those jobs -- people whose emotional and mental systems (and characters) have been tested by hard work in other demanding nursing environments. People who have already dealt with the families demanding full codes on their demented 94 year old grandmas with Alzheimers AND Parkinsons. People who have already dealt with doctors who are indifferent to calls about status changes. People who have already dealt with picking up the slack of burnt out coworkers. People who have already held dozens of sobbing family members who didn't wake up that morning expecting to end it in a hospital room with a dead body.

As a new grad, your calling card needs to be your energy, your enthusiasm, and your willingness to learn everything you can learn. #3 is what will get you the furthest -- you should try to develop it.

 

[firstmickey]

Actually, I have to say I agree with what others have said.

I started busy med surg floor, went to PACU, then telemetry and then ICU. Now I float ICU's and ED at a busy Pittsburgh hospital and also work as a nurse supervisor of a med surg floor at a smaller community hospital.

The med surg nurses work their butts off but no one is more organized or efficient than them. They can prioritize care and do twenty things at once.

I really think all nurses need that year to get organized and learn basic nursing care skills no matter what area of nursing they plan to pursue later...especially since plans change.

I think the problem here is your phrasing with the term "unlearn bad habits". You would have been better to say...starting to learn the specialized care needed to care for infants and preemies right away.

No one is telling you not to pursue your dream....they are trying to reassure you that maybe learning basic nursing care and organization skills FIRST will help you achieve your goals and make you a better nurse in the long run. If you can take care of 8 patients at a time and feel confident doing it...you can pretty much go anywhere.

Would you be able to work pediatric medsurg until a NICU job opened up? Maybe you could look into that if no NICU job will hire you as a new grad.


Good Luck to you in whatever you do....we need nurses badly. And we need nurses who plan to learn and stay in the field.

 

[nhpooh]

As someone who worked at BWH (not a nurse) you have to at times get your foot in the door. Then go for your dream job.

Good luck with the job search!

 

[Just Jan]

God Bless Nurses.
Last summer I was admitted to a local hospital with a hematocrit of 19. By 7 am it had dropped to 17 (the result of a tick bite and not having a spleen.)I
had the most wonderful nurse!
I recieved 1 unit of blood.
After my PCP spoke with my hematologist/oncologist (past Hodgkins Disease) but less than 5 minutes after it was started another nurse came in and said it had to be stopped as I had to have irradiated blood and there was none in the hospital and it had to be sent from R.I.. 4 hours later the blood arrived. At about 3:30pm the blood arrived. My nurse literally ran downstairs to get it!!! And because I had never received blood she sat with me while I got transfused. I don't know how busy the floor was but because she had to spend a good part of her day with me I know someone else helped her with her day! A couple of the other nurses would check in on us periodically and she was also wonderful! during this the lab was in and out. To this day I swear I will never forget my nurse! after I was transused the ambulance arrived and I was just STARVING!!!! I had not eaten at all that day. She made sure I had something to eat before I left at at 4pm. I remember her saying later that she ran because she new if my hematocrit was 17 at 7 am there was no way it was going to get better without that blood. She also comforted me when I broke down and cryed as I received it. I was simply scarred at this point! and in the middle of all this craziness we were able to laugh and poke a bit of fun at what was going on.

I only spent one night in the local hospital, but another 9 nights in a major teaching hospital in Boston with 3 more transfusions. To make a long entertainig story short at one poit they would not let me out of the bed unassisted to walk to the bathroom. So I had to have the nurse and the new nurse in training walk me across the room. I new this took away from what they were doing, but they were just so wonderful and I felt like I was their only patient. I wanted to be a good patient not a demanding one.

I fondly summarized my stay in an e-mail to a friend saying ...
1night at a local hospital, 1 ambulance ride with the pretty red lights 9 nights in Beth Israel, 2 hemotologist, 2 infectious disease specialists, 2 cardiologists, 1 pic line, 1 holter moniter, many ekg's, 2 x rays, 4 units of blood, and all of the students and new drs that go along with a major teaching hospital and 6 medications to take home I have arrived at home and I am exausted!

With all of the issues I was having in the first 5 days I was there I am sure my nurses were kept quite busy!!! But They were all AWESOME!!! I hugged my primary nurse when I was discharged and sent a thankyou note to all of my nurses and doctors involved in my care. I wanted to send flowers, but they weren't allowed on the floor as there were transplant patients on the same floor.

ALWAYS were DEET outside to avoid TICK BITES!!

 

[Tinkerbelle'sMOM]

Wow! I'll tell you, most of us in ICU's don't know how med/surg nurses do it. When I floated to other floors and had more than 4 patients I almost flipped out! We get gals from these floors that come to work in our unit and some of the stories make our hair stand on end!

As for new grad in NICU, yes, they are hired into most of them. I was hired as a new grad and probably 90% of our nurses were hired as new grads, and most of us have been there over 20 years now. For anyone to say that new grads shouldn't be working in NICU is wrong. In my unit you are given 12-16 weeks of orientation, and you work 4 days a week. You start on day shift and then go to your hired shift half way thru. You have to pass med tests, NRP, and a comprehensive test at the end of your orientation. You also go to classes on bereavement, breastfeeding, emergency deliveries, STABLE, and core classes. Once you are thru with orientation you have a resource person with you for another 2 months. If after orientation is up and you can't swing it, you are offered a position in the newborn nursery. So, new grad or not, you are taught well. I am now a practitioner in our unit

There are things that have to be "unlearned" when we get people from med/surg floors, even other ICU's. NICU is a totally different animal and nothing you learned anywhere else is going to translate easily into our area. Meds, gtts, codes, routine care are all on the opposite spectrum. But, people that come from other areas usually have something to add to ours

To the OP, you may have to enter into something else first to get in the door, esp if there are not any positions open. Good luck!

 

[PatsGirl]

I have several friends that just graduated the RN program here on the Cape. Sometime in the Spring they were told that there was a hiring freeze at the two local hospitals and that new RNs would need to do at least one year at a rehab or long term care facility before they would look at their applications. One of the new graduates has been a CNA for 25 years, 20 at the same place and still can't find a job other than a nursing home. Seems that both Hospice and VNA work the same way and if you intend to work within the school system, most positions require a BSN. To say she is disappointed would be an understatement. And, to make matters worse, instead of making much more $ as a nurse vs CNA, she's going to make nearly the same. (This takes into account the outrageously low increase in pay of $2.50/hour and the increase in health insurance of almost double! due to lack of union for nurses in that facility).

 

[Disney Doll]

Oh Pedi-Nurse, you're going to have such hard time.
That being said, maybe PM tink and find out where she works. It sounds like her NICU would take a new grad.

 

[Disney Doll]

God Bless Nurses.
Last summer I was admitted to a local hospital with a hematocrit of 19. By 7 am it had dropped to 17 (the result of a tick bite and not having a spleen.)I
had the most wonderful nurse!
I recieved 1 unit of blood.
After my PCP spoke with my hematologist/oncologist (past Hodgkins Disease) but less than 5 minutes after it was started another nurse came in and said it had to be stopped as I had to have irradiated blood and there was none in the hospital and it had to be sent from R.I.. 4 hours later the blood arrived. At about 3:30pm the blood arrived. My nurse literally ran downstairs to get it!!! And because I had never received blood she sat with me while I got transfused. I don't know how busy the floor was but because she had to spend a good part of her day with me I know someone else helped her with her day! A couple of the other nurses would check in on us periodically and she was also wonderful! during this the lab was in and out. To this day I swear I will never forget my nurse! after I was transused the ambulance arrived and I was just STARVING!!!! I had not eaten at all that day. She made sure I had something to eat before I left at at 4pm. I remember her saying later that she ran because she new if my hematocrit was 17 at 7 am there was no way it was going to get better without that blood. She also comforted me when I broke down and cryed as I received it. I was simply scarred at this point! and in the middle of all this craziness we were able to laugh and poke a bit of fun at what was going on.

I only spent one night in the local hospital, but another 9 nights in a major teaching hospital in Boston with 3 more transfusions. To make a long entertainig story short at one poit they would not let me out of the bed unassisted to walk to the bathroom. So I had to have the nurse and the new nurse in training walk me across the room. I new this took away from what they were doing, but they were just so wonderful and I felt like I was their only patient. I wanted to be a good patient not a demanding one.

I fondly summarized my stay in an e-mail to a friend saying ...
1night at a local hospital, 1 ambulance ride with the pretty red lights 9 nights in Beth Israel, 2 hemotologist, 2 infectious disease specialists, 2 cardiologists, 1 pic line, 1 holter moniter, many ekg's, 2 x rays, 4 units of blood, and all of the students and new drs that go along with a major teaching hospital and 6 medications to take home I have arrived at home and I am exausted!

With all of the issues I was having in the first 5 days I was there I am sure my nurses were kept quite busy!!! But They were all AWESOME!!! I hugged my primary nurse when I was discharged and sent a thankyou note to all of my nurses and doctors involved in my care. I wanted to send flowers, but they weren't allowed on the floor as there were transplant patients on the same floor.

ALWAYS were DEET outside to avoid TICK BITES!!

Boy, THAT nurse is going to have to unlearn an awful lot of bad habits if she ever wants to work in a specialty area.

 

[Disney Doll]

Wow! I'll tell you, most of us in ICU's don't know how med/surg nurses do it. When I floated to other floors and had more than 4 patients I almost flipped out! We get gals from these floors that come to work in our unit and some of the stories make our hair stand on end!

As for new grad in NICU, yes, they are hired into most of them. I was hired as a new grad and probably 90% of our nurses were hired as new grads, and most of us have been there over 20 years now. For anyone to say that new grads shouldn't be working in NICU is wrong. In my unit you are given 12-16 weeks of orientation, and you work 4 days a week. You start on day shift and then go to your hired shift half way thru. You have to pass med tests, NRP, and a comprehensive test at the end of your orientation. You also go to classes on bereavement, breastfeeding, emergency deliveries, STABLE, and core classes. Once you are thru with orientation you have a resource person with you for another 2 months. If after orientation is up and you can't swing it, you are offered a position in the newborn nursery. So, new grad or not, you are taught well. I am now a practitioner in our unit

There are things that have to be "unlearned" when we get people from med/surg floors, even other ICU's. NICU is a totally different animal and nothing you learned anywhere else is going to translate easily into our area. Meds, gtts, codes, routine care are all on the opposite spectrum. But, people that come from other areas usually have something to add to ours

To the OP, you may have to enter into something else first to get in the door, esp if there are not any positions open. Good luck!

Your hospital is very brave, putting that amount of responsibility on someone with no experience. They wouldn't do it where I work. Minimum is 1 year of med/surg experienc before any specialty area is considered.