Peds nurses...tell me about your job

[lemondog]

Spinoff of my "Anyone ever go back to school...." thread.

If you did not see that thread, I feel very called to go back to school to become a pediatric nurse. I currently teach at a preschool and I know that I am supposed to work with children. I believe that nurses are the ones who make all the difference in the "emotional" level of care one receives in the hospital. At least, that has been my experience with my own ill family members. I think being a nurse is a calling and one I am supposed to fulfill.

All that said, I would love to hear about your experiences as a pediatric nurse. The great, the good, the bad and the ugly. I know every job comes with its ups and downs, and I can only imagine how heartwrenching some of those "downs" can be when dealing with sick children. My initial thoughts are that I would like to work in peds critical care, specifically a Peds ER, but I would be applying to a Nurse Residency program that rotates you thru all the areas of pediatric care at our children's hospital so that you (and they) can find the right fit for your strengths.

Please share!!

 

[Judy from Boise]

I loved being a pediatric nurse. I worked oncology/hematology, PICU, general acute , was director of pediatric services at a Visiting nurse association, worked as the peds specialist for a home infusion company etc.I finished my peds career as a family clinical nurse specialist at a trauma center.
If you believe you are being called to this then go for it!

 

[kafitty]

i am not a nurse, but when my 16 year old cousin was in Boston Children's Hospital for leukemia, it was the nurses there that REALLY helped her through the process. She now wants to become a nurse herself - and she is in remission and doing wonderfully. So i have a special place in my heart for pediatric nurses. Good luck!

 

[dakcp2001]

I am currently a nursing student, and being that I have no children I expected to hate peds, I have little experience being around children. I ended up really enjoying it! I have to caution you, it is REALLY hard to see a small child really sick, and now they don't quite understand why they feel so awful. It was also extremely difficult to care for the NAS babies ( born addicted to drugs). I had a real hard time watching them let these babies go home with the moms that did this to them. BUt it just kept happening, and that is the social workers area, not the nurses.

The children were wonderful, the parents were the hard part. You really are caring for the children and the terrified parents for the most part. BUt I loved it. If you feel like this is what you are meant to do, go for it! It is not easy!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I spent several years working in a pediatric ER. It was an amazing experience. Stressful, but amazing. One of the things I think I wasn't prepared for were the noise levels. It can be extremely loud and overstimulating between screams, alarms, sirens, phones, buzzers, voices, etc. When you leave after a long shift you feel pretty drained. The "gory" part didn't really bother me. It was probably there that I honed my skills in seeing the "whole person" as opposed to the injury or disease associated with that person, etc. You learn to look past the gore and other negatives. But there are some very sad cases that I will never forget. I believe they made me a very careful parent, though, lol.

I had an experience from the other side of the bed not too long ago that I'd like to share. I hope it'll highlight some of the little but wonderful things that nurses do every day. I'd just gone to a seminar on spirituality in nursing, which reinforced how important it is in this day and age of technology to continue to connect with patients on a human level. Shortly afterward, my own son was hospitalized. His roommate was an infant whose native language was not English. We'd both been admitted in the middle of the night. The baby's nurse came into his room and immediately the baby began to scream. I knew how difficult it was going to be for that nurse. Then I heard an amazing thing. The nurse, who happened to be a man, began to sing to the baby. Tenderly, like a daddy would. And he didn't rush. In fact, he sang several verses - in English. And the baby slowly calmed down. To the point that the nurse could work with him. He'd connected spiritually with his patient and developed a trust. I was so proud of him as a nurse, it made ME cry. I later shared my observations with him and praised him for a job well done. He was a little shocked to hear this from a roommate's mom (probably not an everyday occurrance, I imagine ), but happy I'd said something. It's so rare we get this type of feedback.

Good luck on your journey. If you can, it would probably help you find what you'd like to do if you get a job in the hospital somewhere. And remember, you don't have to work in an ICU or ER to find excitement and rewards. Those are everywhere.

 

[dakcp2001]

Pea n Me that is so sweet!


OP, I forgot to mention, you have to be REALLY good at math to work in Peds, as the meds are often weight based dosages.

 

[Judy from Boise]

I slightly disagree.......I am not gifted in math, but that was a gift because it made me always work it out on paper. Even when it was a simple decimal shift or desired over giver ratio, I made myself set it up on paper and calculate it.You rae correct that it is complicated
1. pounds to kg conversion
2. calculate dose mg per kg
3. follow dilution on vial
4. calculate amount of volume to provide dose
5. calculate any need to further dilute based on chart
6. calculate final infusion rate based on med plus dilution volume.


I forgot to add i taught the peds course at a BSN program for 3 years......I had to teach this to students!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I always check my calculations on paper (even though I work with adults now). Even in these days of electronic ordering and such, old habits die hard. If it's something I don't administer very often, or for whatever reason I'm not exactly sure, I call a pharmacist to double check my math.