What is some advice for switching to Pediatrics with 1.5 years of inpatient adult Med Surg/Tele experience?

That is kind of what I did, I was a heme/onc adult nurse for a little over a year and switched to peds and have been in peds now for 10 years. It’s a whole new mindset. You have two patients now because the parents are responsible for their care too. So you have that experience to teach and communicate with them and then you just learn how to communicate with the kids! It’s great. Some days at work I play with Tonka trucks and Lego’s!

Great advice is remembering the mind of the child!
While parents and sometimes the child are learning, simple plain easy steps make it easier. Logic is needed but may not trump emotions a child and or parents are facing during healthcare or crisis

I worked in Med Surg/Tele for 2yrs prior to working in pediatrics. Which area of pediatrics? General pediatric Med/Surg or something else?

1. I would advise re-familiarizing yourself with vital sign ranges, which is so different for each age!

2. Also remember that pediatrics is complicated in that they can’t tell you what’s happening (unless it’s adolescents) so you need to rely heavily on your clinical judgement.

3. Babies and young children can change VERY quickly aka decline rapidly, within seconds even; so again, you have to rely heavily on your clinical assessment/judgment and pay attention to any little change no matter how minor it may seem.

4. Listen to the parents. They know what is normal/not normal for their child.

5. Lastly, the support among the staff will make or break you. You need support, everyone needs help and multiple people to do many tasks…ex: try reinserting an NG tube on a surprisingly STRONG 3yr old. You need multiple people to help.

Switching to peds from med/surg has been such a great experience! Your patients depend on you is such a different way.. it’s a truly rewarding place to be!

Apply! We are always looking for great nurses-it’s better to hire for fit, and train the right person.