🤔 So I’ve been getting a lot of DMs from you guys that are brand new NICU nurses about to start your NICU journey, and asking what you should do to prep or what to focus on? ⠀
⠀
😅 I’m going to tell you straight up, I went to my first ever NICU job with very little NICU knowledge. And so just know that you will learn all you need to know during your orientation. Every hospital is so different. And so what you learn at one place may be so different than the other (like how to do something, policies, etc). So ask questions!!⠀
⠀
👍🏻 But what I recommend is knowing the basic information that you are going to hear most often in report. Knowing what acronyms mean!! We definitely use a lot of it in the NICU. So a list of them would be: IVH, FiO2, ROP, NEC, UAC, UVC, PICC line, NAS, CUS, ECHO, NPASS, RDS, PROM, VLBW, ELBW, CHD, CLABSI, and cardiac defects (PDA, PFO, VSD, ASD). ⠀
⠀
🗣 Know different types of oxygen supports as well. So Intubation/ventilators, SiPAP, CPAP, BCPAP, HFNC. You don’t need to focus on the settings but at least have a general knowledge of why and when we use them and when it is appropriate to wean to a lower oxygen support. ⠀
⠀
💊 Focus on common meds we give as well. So caffeine, amp, gent, vanco, ceftaz, iron, multivitamin, lasix, lactobacillus, surfactant, dopamine, dobutamine, nystatin, tylenol, fentanyl, morphine, versed, Ativan, erythromycin, phenobarbital, epoetin, epinephrine, hydrocortisone, methadone, chlorothiazide, sodium bicarbonate. ⠀
⠀
🤗 Check out my post on resource books as well. And brush up on NRP. Good luck!
Comments