I’m not really sure where to put this one, I’m looking for stories and advice on a career change.
I would like to become a Pediatric nurse, and have talked to a few people about it, but would like some wider input if you all don’t mind, especially if there are any male nurses out there, in any field.
I want to know what the job is like. The stresses, pains and triumphs. What sort of person you have to be, that sort of thing.
The people I’ve talked to have said that I’d be a good nurse, apparently I have the right amount of compassion, love and the ability to shut off emotions. I’m also funny and one nurse suggested that I’d be good in a Oncology(sp?) ward, making childrens lives easier in their last days… I do not know…
so please, if you are a Pediatric nurse, or even a “general” nurse give me something to consider.
Well, I’m not exactly what you asked for, but I am a senior nursing student.
I don’t particularly like kids (except my own), and I thought that would be my biggest reason for not liking my peds rotation. It turns out that all the kids I worked with were really very sweet, it was seeing kids who should have been healthy and active stuck in a hospital that really bothered me.
It probably didn’t help that my clinical rotation was at the Kennedy-Krieger Institute of Johns Hopkins, which is basically a center for kids with life-long disabilities. The kids I saw were not only disabled, but weren’t going to be getting any better.
Since that was probably less than useful, let me give you some real advice. If you decide to go to nursing school, go for a BSN program instead of an ADN or diploma program. You will have so many more options to branch out and do different things (and there are so many things you can do with nursing) if you have that BSN under your belt.
Another nursing student checking in. I’m in my third year of a BScN program. I have a nursing job now, in home health care. I work with kids who have tracheostomies. They are a delight. I can’t say enough about how much I love my job. The child I work the most with is so sick, he ends up in the hospital no less than 5 times a year. But he is the most amazing kid, so resilient. I go to work and get hugs for 20 minutes. Always ready with a smile and he is just all around a precious child. It is amazingly rewarding.
Nursing can be stressful. You have a million things to do and only so much time to do it in. I’m hoping the stress level goes down after I graduate and don’t have assignments to do every single day. It can be heartbreaking too. The worst rotation I had was in a nursing home. Spending hours with a 90 year old woman crying for her mother just about killed me. But in the end you feel as though you’ve helped in some way. I try to remember that I’m not going to change every patient’s life, so any little thing I can do for them makes me feel good about my day.
To be a nurse I think you have to be incredibly compassionate. That’s not to say that all nurses are compassionate. Some of the nurses I’ve seen couldn’t care less. I despise that. If you’ve got the compassion, already you’re a better nurse than some. As for shutting off your emotions, that’s not always a good thing because you really need to keep that awareness of how others are feeling. Or else you’ll end up as the type of nurse that I mentioned above!
Yes there are male nurses out there. They are few and far between it seems, but there are some. The ones I know are fabulous at their jobs. I think there should be more male nurses. I’ve never quite understood why it’s considered a “woman’s job” because the men seem to be better at it than the women sometimes.
Anyway I think that if you feel the urge to do it, then do it. It can be tough but hey, what job isn’t? If you like it half as much as I do, you’ll be doing OK.
I’m going to second Lucretia about getting your BScN. Yeah you can get through school faster if you go diploma but you can do so much more with your degree. If you really want to get done faster, then see if there’s an accelerated option in the school you go to.
I don’t know if this will help you much more, LeeJam, but here is a page of FAQ on pediatric nursing, and some medical case studies. They’re American, but it might give you some background.
New South Wales requires 3 years study for Bachelor of Science (Nursing) before registration as a nurse, so it appears, LeeJam. Don’t know what it’s like in WA.
LeeJam, I’m a parent who rents a room at two different hospitals.
For the past four years we have been dealing with our youngest son having ITP. (you can google it under the letters since I don’t attempt to spell it.)
It’s an auto-immune disease where when he gets a virus his white cells get confused and attack and eat his platelets. 150,000-400,000 is normal range and he has gotten as low as 2,000.
With this we get spontaneous nose bleeds and have to worry about brain hemorrage. Not to mention he looks like a child abuse victim because the slightest bump or nudge when he gets this low causes awful bruising.
Three years ago I rented a room for a month after my oldest was hit by a car.
Why tell you this?
Well, I’ve dealt with alot of pedes nurses.
Wonderful women all of them. (I say women because I have yet to get a male pedes nurse so I hope no offence be taken by male nurses)
My third shift nurses were wonderful! Outstanding!
You know you have to deal with parents as much as the children. Some parents are strong, and some are emotional. And even the strong ones break on occation.
I have only broken a few times and that was when things were at their worst and it’s always the nurses who get to deal with it.
The last time when they couldn’t get Dylans numbers up and he was vomiting the blood that had drained down his throat from a six hour nose bleed and they were talking about either packing it or taking him to surgery to cauterize which is risky itself because they couldn’t put him under under because they were worried about the throat tube scratching his throat and causing whole other issues but if it wasn’t done they were talking about a blood transfussion because he was losing too much blood, I lost it.
My nurse helped me pick up the peices.
One third shift nurse used to bring me in books to read.
Pedes nurses and parents really have to be comfortable with each other and work as a team.
We got really good at holding towels to his nose, a bucket for the vomit, and taking him to the bathroom while dancing around his IV pole.
When they decided to transfer him to the university hospital in Iowa City his lab tech (the only one he would let touch him) ran downstairs in record time and got him a little good luck bear and put bandaids on it and loaded him down with stickers.
I have alot of respect for pedes nurses.
One time when he got a killer nose bleed I had every nurse on the floor in my room. Needless to say we had half the other children outside the door as well.
I was starting to stress so one nurse told me to take a minute right outside the door to breathe. I ended up going in the hall and explaining to the upset children what was going on with Dylan and trying to put their minds at ease. We had a few children come in and visit our room after that and it was nice cause it helped keep sick and bored children occupied.
LeeJam, if you are a person who can handle stuff like this and worse, and keep your cool and a sense of humor and not let it drag you down into the pit of dispair then welcome aboard!
I’ve got a whole slew of stories about nurses I’ve come in contact with. Just ask and they are all yours.
Good luck with finding your right path. We could use more great pedes nurses out there!
Thanks Kricket I appreciate you sharing with me, and I hope that I am even half as compassionate as the nurses you have met.
I think that this is where I want to go. The job sounds draining, hard work, but also rewarding in it’s own way.
give me something to consider.