Rachel Ellis, RN, works in the ICU and, for the past five years, has primarily worked in the critical care setting, but on the side, though, she provides postpartum care to new moms.
Here’s her story. We edited the interview for length and clarity.
Why did you decide to start your postpartum side gig? When did you start it, and how did you go about it?
The decision to start a side gig in postpartum care stems back to 2009, after the birth of my first child. At that time, I didn’t have the language for the postpartum experience I found myself in. Sadly, this is a common theme for most new mothers in modern-day America.
I had spent nine months planning for a beautiful water birth but had completely neglected to prepare for the postpartum time. In hindsight, I noticed how providers offered little-to-no education or care about the postpartum period. Because of my wonderful birth experience, I initially chose to go into the nursing field to become a midwife but ended up in bedside nursing instead.
In 2020 while in my second pregnancy and during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I realized that I wasn’t doing what I felt most passionate about. Although nursing is rewarding, I felt burnt out and began to remember my “why.” Why did I get into nursing in the first place?
Throughout my second pregnancy, I began researching and prepping for my postpartum time instead of planning for my birth. While exploring, I found a podcast episode featuring Rachelle Garcia Seliga, a New Mexico midwife speaking about postpartum care.
After listening to a particular episode, I suddenly had the language missing from my previous postpartum experience. With intentional preparation, I went on to heal my story by having the most wonderful postpartum experience after the birth of my second child. I wanted everyone to know they could have the same experiences after birth. In 2022, I became a certified postpartum care practitioner through Innate Traditions and created a business called Nourished Beginnings. I had never worked in a postpartum care setting before this.
What need did you see in the community—so that you knew or at least thought this would work? What type of women uses your services? Why do they need assistance postpartum? Is this covered by insurance or a cash-based business?
Innate Traditions was created by Rachelle Garcia Seliga, a midwife in New Mexico, to teach people traditional postpartum care. This model of care is unique in our modern-day society as her teachings weave together the common threads of postpartum care from cultures around the world.
For millennia, communities have been utilizing specific modalities to tend to postpartum mothers’ physiologic design resulting in optimal health. Today–especially in America–most people associate postpartum with depression when in reality, the postpartum time is when a woman heals and should come out on the other side thriving. Luckily, in most intact cultures (China, India, New Mexico, Somalia), these traditions are still carried on and passed down from generation to generation. We are looking to the wisdom of these cultures to relearn and remember how to take care of new mothers.
This is important work for the collective of humanity because “Mothers are the soil from which humanity grows,” to quote my teacher Rachelle. I often notice how negatively women speak about their postpartum bodies, experiences, etc. The need for this work is so dire, in my opinion, as I’ve seen new mothers in the darkest moments of their lives after having a baby.
The type of women and families who seek out my services are typically not first-time mothers. They have already been through the trenches and realize the importance of having help outside their partners.
Most women seeking my services also live a holistic lifestyle and typically experience more natural ways of birthing, such as unmedicated or home birth. My type of service is not covered by insurance; however, I am connected to a large doula agency working in the tri-state area, which can match families looking to utilize health insurance or working on a sliding scale based on income.
Approximately how many patients do you serve? You can make it on a weekly/monthly basis. Is it challenging to balance your side gig and your full-time job?
In terms of service, I typically take on 1-2 clients a month. I will work with a new mother for the first month after her baby is born. My offering emphasizes nourishment, as I am passionate about food as medicine and utilizing a lot of bodywork in my care with a new mother.
It can be challenging to balance my life as a bedside nurse, running my business, and being a full-time mother. Still, I am choosing to go per diem as a bedside nurse shortly to allow room for my business to blossom, as this work will change how our society cares for mothers.
Did you have previous entrepreneurial experience? Or did you learn on the go? Did it take a lot of time or money to establish your business?
As someone with no previous entrepreneurial experience before this, navigating details such as website design, marketing, and social media, has been interesting. The program I took through Innate Traditions was an investment and a nine-month commitment. However, beyond that, it hasn’t taken much financially to start going out there and working within my community. It has been more of a time commitment than anything else.
What did you enjoy most about your side- gig?
What I enjoy most about my side gig is the freedom to create hours that work for my lifestyle and family.
I also love teaching the education series “Innate Traditions Planning for the fourth trimester” with clients and their partners/friends/families because it genuinely brings that piece of the community into the postpartum time before a woman even arrives there. So many families appreciate this education series and have told me they feel way more prepared to care for their loved ones than ever.
What are some of the challenges?
Some challenges I face are finding time to bulk cook for clients throughout the week with a toddler and infant at my side and learning certain things on the go since I am new at running my own business. Luckily, I have a great community that I’m a part of where I can ask questions when more support is needed.
What are the most significant rewards of having your side gig?
This work is gratifying because I witness new mothers come out of their postpartum cocoons feeling rejuvenated and wanting to do it all over again. It truly doesn’t feel like “work” at all. \
What would you say to someone considering starting a side gig like yours—with postpartum care?
Something I recommend to anyone looking to start a business like this is to remember your boundaries. It can be easy to become a babysitter to older children and occasionally perform some light household chores for new families. Remember to center the new mother and inform everyone in the new mother’s postpartum space what your role is. Education is so essential beforehand as this will help all parties recognize what you will be doing during that time.
Also, make sure you’re taking time to prioritize your needs. Remember that you can’t pour from an empty cup as you serve others.
While some nurses feel pulled into treating children, others love to care for those in their later years by working in the geriatric field.
If you’ve ever wondered what these nurses do, why they like it, or if it’s the facet of the field that fits you, we’ve got you covered.
We interviewed Nancy Mitchell, RN. She has more than 37 years of experience in geriatric nursing care, both as a senior care nurse and director of nursing care, and she took the time to answer our questions.
What follows is our interview, edited for length and clarity.
Nancy Mitchell, RN, has more than 37 years of experience in geriatric nursing care, both as a senior care nurse and director of nursing care.
How did you get interested in being a geriatric nurse? What drew you to it? How long have you been doing it?
I’ve worked in senior care for more than three decades. Geriatric care is unique in that it is less hectic than working in the emergency department or on surgical wards but can be equally demanding.
What drew me most to this discipline is the patient care aspect. It’s not strictly medical. Eldercare allows me to give back to communities in more than one way. The senior population plays a significant role in enriching any social group. Ensuring their health is my way of contributing to the holistic wellness of our communities.
What does a geriatric nurse do? What types of patients do you serve? What do you provide for them?
One of the primary roles of a geriatric nurse is to help elderly patients–those 65 and older–continue to live independently. We manage and treat underlying conditions to avoid having them progress into debilitating stages. We also educate patients and their families on ways to help support their health at an older age.
However, as a geriatric nurse, managing debilitating diseases also comes with the job. We deal with cases of Alzheimer’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and other neurodegenerative conditions regularly. Some of us are based in hospice care, specializing in making the transition process as pleasant as possible for terminally ill patients.
It is our responsibility to care for and protect the older population.
Did you need to get additional education for this position?
There’s no obligation to pursue additional education beyond your BSN to become a geriatric nurse. It depends on your plans for career advancement. Some nurses become geriatric nurse practitioners, specializing in diagnosing ailments and prescribing treatment for elderly patients.
What do you like most about working as a geriatric nurse?
Unlike ER work, geriatric nursing is a socially enriching profession, where you treat patients tonight and send them off within hours. Most elderly care facilities serve as extended living centers for patients temporarily or permanently. This allows you to forge meaningful, professional relationships with patients.
Seniors have lived some of the most exciting lives, and they love sharing fascinating stories and life lessons that anyone can benefit from hearing.
What are your biggest challenges as a geriatric nurse?
Geriatric wards see some of the highest mortalities. Most patients struggle with three or more underlying conditions. The profession requires a high level of emotional intelligence and fortitude.
What are your greatest rewards as one?
My greatest reward is touching patients’ lives, even in the later stages of their lives. Some of these patients live alone and are lonely, so they depend on the social interactions of nurses as encouragement throughout their treatment. I’m honored to provide a helping shoulder to them.
Is there else that is important for our readers to know?
People tend to assume that the body follows a steady trend in how it works throughout your lifetime. But, in reality, the geriatric body significantly differs from someone in their mid-30s or teens. So geriatric care is a discipline on its own.
Have you ever wondered what it was like to work with patients who live with serious mental illness? If you’ve thought about working with this particular population but weren’t sure what it was like or even knew someone in the field, don’t worry; we’ve got you covered.
Erin Walczykowski, MSN, APRN, PMHNP-BC, works as a psychiatric nurse practitioner at MBI Health Services, LLC in Washington, D.C. In addition to speaking with us about the types of patients she works with, she also talked with Daily Nurse about long-acting injectable medications (LAIs).
What follows is our interview, edited for length and clarity.
Erin Walczykowski, MSN, APRN, PMHNP-BC, is a psychiatric nurse practitioner at MBI Health Services, LLC in Washington, D.C.
How did you get interested in being a Nurse Practitioner working with patients who have serious mental illnesses? What drew you to it? How long have you been doing it?
I have been working with patients for six years. My interest in the brain and behavior connection drew me to this line of work. I am naturally curious and have always been drawn to why people behave the way they do.
Once in nursing school, my interest solidified when I discovered that I enjoyed working with patients with mental illnesses. I find satisfaction in helping others explore their lives, why they see the world the way they do, and how to make choices that help them reach their goals.
I am particularly drawn to those with serious mental illness, as these individuals often have the most challenges managing their lives due to the severity of their symptoms—the more challenging the client, the more alienated and misunderstood. So, I find significant meaning in helping people live the best life possible, even if their way of existing in the world does not fall within the expected norms of society.
Those with serious mental illness are most often disregarded and outcasted. Yet, these same individuals are empowered to live lives of meaning through medication management and building therapeutic relationships.
What types of patients do you serve? What kind of care do you provide for them?
I primarily serve patients diagnosed with serious mental illnesses. I provide medication management to adults with chronic and persistent psychiatric disorders within the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) setting. ACT provides high-level, wraparound care to what are often the sickest of patients in the community, who otherwise struggle to engage in their mental health treatment on their own without a great amount of staff support.
The most common patient diagnoses I treat are:
Schizophrenia.
Schizoaffective disorder.
Bipolar disorder.
Major depressive disorder.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Varying anxiety disorders.
Co-occurring substance use disorders.
Tell us about long-acting injectable medications (LAIs). What conditions are they used for? How do they work? Why are they more beneficial for some patients than taking a pill?
Long-acting injectable medications (LAIs) are currently used for patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and other serious mental illness. LAIs contain the same active ingredient as the pill form of the medicine. But when injected into the muscle, they allow for the slow release of medication into the blood over a more extended period and avoid the gastrointestinal pathway. This also reduces the peak-trough plasma levels inherent to oral meds, allowing for steady blood levels.
For many of my patients, I believe LAIs can help manage symptoms, as they can struggle with taking their medication in pill form on a consistent basis, as prescribed. Adherence tends to be even more of an issue within psychiatry. LAIs can ensure better adherence, resulting in fewer hospitalizations and fewer relapses while decreasing the risk of overdose on oral medications. If the amount or severity of relapses can be reduced, then the brain can be better-protected long-term from subsequent damage, possibly improving the lifetime prognosis and its resulting impact on the patient’s life.
Consider this: Most oral medications prescribed to treat schizophrenia are taken daily, sometimes twice a day. Unfortunately, such a dosing schedule means non-adherence will not be detected until a major problem develops. In contrast to oral medications, LAIs have different dosing schedules. While some are administered every two weeks, others are given every month, every two months, or longer. Often, this is more suitable to the lifestyles of my patients.
How do LAIs give patients more freedom? How do they support the whole patient? How long have they been used?
While oral antipsychotic medications are taken daily, LAIs include various dosing scheduling options, allowing patients more freedom to go about their day without worrying about taking a daily pill. LAI administration can be monitored, and thus staff can know for certain if a patient is consistent with adherence and prevent lapses in treatment.
This is particularly helpful for patients who decompensate quickly upon an oral medication lapse and those who lack insight into their illness. Some patients will not take oral medications regularly if they don’t believe they have a mental illness, are paranoid, think they are better, and no longer need medications when they are no longer symptomatic or are without stable housing.
Despite LAIs being available for some time now, there needs to be more education regarding LAIs in the healthcare community. However, they have become increasingly popular in the past few years due to their proven patient benefits and outcomes. Unfortunately, LAIs are underutilized as a first-line treatment option and are often seen as a last resort which ideally will change with time and education.
As an NP, how do you—and how can other nurses—work as a team with patients and caregivers to figure out what treatment will work best for them? What are the biggest challenges in working as a team? What are the greatest rewards?
When working with patients and caregivers, nurses and providers on their team must encourage and ensure that the patient is directly involved in their treatment plan within their means. Ensure they have a say in their care and feel they are a team partner. Find out the patient’s goals, strengths, and weaknesses elicited from their perspective. Once you determine this, help ensure the goals and necessary steps are realistic based on their circumstances and symptoms and help them to develop alternative options if there are limitations.
It is also important to build a good rapport and work on developing trust. Those with mental illness–particularly serious mental illness–typically have a history of what they identify as bad experiences with psychiatric care, resulting in a general lack of trust in mental health providers, even if the care was appropriate given the circumstance and safety risk. This can be due to the nature of their symptoms, multiple medication trials, and even jail or hospital encounters perceived to be hostile or punitive. Determining the proper combination of medications, which are as individual as the patient, is a bit of trial and error. Because of this, patients often feel they are guinea pigs.
The biggest challenges are ensuring that each team member is on the same page regarding patient status and progress, that communication is consistent to ensure there are no gaps in care, and that monitoring of patient progress is consistent. This allows the team to anticipate, get ahead of, or address any triggers that can preclude a decompensation or exacerbation of symptoms.
The greatest reward of working on a team is that if everyone is committed to ensuring collaboration of care, outcomes for the patient are better. Every team member is valuable and can develop different relationships with the patient that are beneficial in various scenarios. It also helps build camaraderie and prevent burnout, which is very prevalent when working with patients with serious mental illnesses and high emotional needs.
How can LAIs enhance patient outcomes? Please explain.
One LAI treatment that I utilize in my practice is ARISTADA® (aripiprazole lauroxil), a prescription medicine given by injection by a healthcare professional and used to treat schizophrenia in adults. This medication is available in several different doses, including monthly (441 mg, 662 mg, 882 mg), every six weeks (882 mg), and every two months (1064 mg), allowing me to tailor each treatment regimen to my patient’s needs. It is not known if ARISTADA is safe and effective in children under 18 years of age.
In some of my patients with schizophrenia taking ARISTADA, I have seen reduced symptoms such as delusions, social withdrawal, and hallucinations. But, more importantly, I have witnessed improved adherence rates and feel the reduced dosing schedule offers a convenient option for patients.
Based on my experience with ARISTADA and other LAIs, I would strongly advocate for LAIs to be considered as an option both early in a patient’s treatment journey and for the long-term maintenance of their disease. We should help patients be more receptive to LAIs and to see these injections as not a punitive treatment that takes away their control but instead as a way for them to take control of their treatment. Ultimately through the use of LAIs, there is greater symptom stabilization. If they gain control of their symptoms, they gain control of the outcomes and thus control their life goals.
How can using LAIs improve public health? In what specific communities have they been proven to do so?
With LAIs, we can improve the treatment experience for individuals with schizophrenia and other complex mental health conditions. I have witnessed LAIs improve symptoms and prevent relapses which can lead to hospitalizations and other serious outcomes, which is a powerful testament to the impact these medications can have on public health. While there is no cure for schizophrenia, with the right care plan and a supportive care team, patients can have the opportunity to live meaningful and productive lives.
LAIs should be considered across all patient populations. But they can have the most impact within patient populations where their symptoms, living, and socioeconomic status result in low engagement with their healthcare team. This can include: not having housing to store medications, limited access to transportation, physical limitations, embarrassment regarding taking daily medications, memory issues, and those who are frequently hospitalized.
It is also very helpful in young adults early in their illness. Young adults can find it challenging to accept they have a mental illness and what adjustments they may need to make to accommodate this. It also can greatly impact how they perceive themselves relative to their peers. Stabilization early increases the chance of a better prognosis long-term.
Is there anything else that is important for our readers?
I think it is important for readers to know that many people with mental illness are still people. They have many of the same wants, needs, and desires as those without mental illness. However, their symptoms directly impact their ability to attain these goals, feel productive, valued, and have healthy relationships.
So, we must remember they want the same things we all do, but they need additional support to get there. They need empathy, patience, and understanding. Often this means having an open mind and being creative in interacting with and caring for those with mental illness. LAIs give you more flexibility in how treatment can be provided.
While medications, particularly LAIs, are a key component to mental health outcomes and treatment, remember the relationship with the patient comes first.
Interested in becoming a psychiatric nurse practitioner? Then check out Daily Nurses Career Center to get jobs, scholarships, and nursing news delivered weekly to your inbox.
Necessity is the mother of invention, and sometimes, this can even happen in your own life, as it did for Janice Wong, RN, the founder of BeCeBe Cloth (which sounds a little like “busy bee”).
She thought about a problem she wanted to fix, and in doing so, she started her side gig.
For ten years, she worked in psychiatric nursing and leadership positions. But, she says, after giving birth to her first child, she wanted more flexibility to prioritize her family’s needs, so she began working as an acute care case manager.
Wong took the time to answer our questions about her business. What follows is our interview, edited for length and clarity.
How did you come up with the idea for BeCeBe Cloth? Why did you decide to start your side gig with BeCeBe Cloth? When did you start it, and how did you go about it? What product was first?
I started BeCeBe Cloth after witnessing the destructive wildfires in California in recent years. In September 2020, the sky in San Francisco Bay Area turned orange, and I couldn’t help but wonder how my children’s future could be affected by climate change. So I started to pay close attention to the environmental impact I create as a parent of two kids. I began cloth diapering when I saw disposable diapers overflowing from my municipal trash bin.
The start of my cloth diapering journey was overwhelming. I spent weeks researching how the product works, how to wash the diapers, and potential hygienic concerns. But it turned out that cloth diapering was so easy, manageable, and fun! When I told my friends about my journey, I realized the steep learning curve was the biggest barrier. So I was determined to design my cloth diaper features that make it easy and “mess proof.”
Without any prior experience, I learned everything via YouTube and Google on product design, creating a prototype, fabric sourcing, and searching for overseas manufacturers to keep prices affordable while maintaining a healthy profit margin to sustain the business and its mission.
My first product was a set of uniquely designed, leak-proof cloth diapers that offer maximum absorbency. I also designed a two-sided, multi-purpose blanket that parents love when kids are potty training to help keep upholstery protected from accidents.
In Oct 2021, I launched a crowdfunding campaign to promote my company’s mission and products. Subsequently, I launched my e-commerce store and marketing campaigns.
What exactly do you do now with the business? Do you take all the orders and send out the products? Or have you farmed out those tasks? Please explain.
I am the solo worker in my business and wear all the hats–from marketing to shipping the products. Entrepreneurship is a marathon, and building brand awareness takes longer than most people think. My plan is to minimize expenses and operate my business from home until sales can match the wages of a nurse.
Did you have previous entrepreneurial experience? Or did you learn on the go? Did it take a lot of time or money to establish your business? Please explain.
Although I’ve had operational experience and budget oversight in nursing leadership, I had no prior experience in entrepreneurship, and I learned as I went along.
I made many phone calls and asked many questions when my children took naps, and after the whole family was asleep. I also joined female founder networking groups to hear about the experience of other founders.
Before launching the crowdfunding campaign, I invested in a marketing accelerator to learn more about one of the most important areas of a business and won the pitch competition.
What did you enjoy most about your side gig?
The most rewarding part of my side gig was hearing first-hand from other moms that my products saved the day!
The mission of BeCeBe Cloth is to make parenthood easier while reducing waste. Knowing that I was able to help a fellow mother is what keeps me going!
I also enjoyed learning about marketing, various business modules, and meeting other female entrepreneurs.
What are some of the challenges?
The time, courage, mistakes, marketing effort, and consistency required to start and grow a profitable business exceeded my expectations. It’s certainly not as easy as one may read in an entrepreneurship article, and entrepreneurship failures are not discussed in mainstream media. Over 20% of small business fails within the first year, and over 50% fail within the first five years (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021).
Aside from business strategies and maintaining positive cash flow, staying consistent even when sales are slow is crucial in maintaining the business’ livelihood.
What are the biggest rewards of having your side gig?
Despite all the hard work, investment of time, and money, my side gig offers hope for building financial freedom while fulfilling a bigger mission–to help others outside of my nursing career.
I also have met a lot of inspirational and amazing female founders on the entrepreneurial journey. Many are willing to share their experiences to help each other succeed.
What would you say to someone considering starting their side gig?
Ask lots of questions, thoroughly research the pros and cons of your business idea, and know that it may take months or years to reach your goal.
There is a lot of noise on the internet about overnight success and passive income. However, discerning and filtering information is essential to take the best next step on the entrepreneurship journey.
Anything else we haven’t asked you that you think is important for readers to know?
Nurses are adaptable and have amazing skill sets! So don’t be afraid to explore what side gig may light you up!
Some nurses love working with children, but working as a pediatric critical care nurse and providing care for them when they’re in critical condition is quite different from caring for them when they have a cold.
So what skill sets do you need to work in pediatric critical care? What is it like? If this is for you, how can you become involved?
We interviewed Tatiana Zedan, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC, a nurse practitioner with Pediatric Critical Care of South Florida who works as a pediatric critical care nurse practitioner at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Florida, about what it’s like working in pediatric critical care.
Tatiana Zedan, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC, is a nurse practitioner with Pediatric Critical Care of South Florida
How did you get interested in being a pediatric critical care nurse? What drew you to it? How long have you been doing it?
I always loved working with kids, so when I started as a nurse, I knew pediatrics was where I wanted to be. After doing a clinical rotation in the PICU as a nursing student, I knew that was where I eventually wanted to end up, as it always gave me an opportunity for critical thinking.
I started as a new grad nurse in the pediatric critical care residency program at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital and ended up specializing as a cardiac critical care nurse. I worked as a pediatric critical care nurse for five years before becoming a pediatric critical care nurse practitioner.
Explain briefly what a pediatric critical care nurse does. What types of patients do you serve? What do you provide for them?
Pediatric critical care is a broad term that has so many components to it. As a pediatric critical care nurse practitioner, you take care of the sickest patients in the hospital that require close monitoring given their circumstances. We closely monitor their breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, ICP, and intra-abdominal pressures to make sure the patient remains stable throughout hospitalization. Once the patient requires less invasive monitoring and support, our goal is to be able to transition them to a lower level of care with a disposition to home. Depending on how severe the illness is, this may take days to weeks or even months, but ultimately, we can achieve this goal with multidisciplinary involvement.
Patients we see range from strokes to viral respiratory illnesses, congenital heart disease, post cardiac/respiratory arrest, heart, and kidney transplants, patients on dialysis, septic shock, spinal fusions, endocrine dysfunctions requiring the use of vasoactive medications, and the list can continue.
Pediatric critical care is a broad topic, and within that, many specialties are involved in the plan of care for a patient, as often, a patient may come in with multi-organ involvement.
An example of this multidisciplinary approach would be for a patient after congenital heart disease repair with a cardiopulmonary bypass. A patient would require critical care of close cardiopulmonary monitoring. Most patients will come back intubated. Cardiology, as well as cardiothoracic surgery would be involved in the patient’s plan of care. Should the patient have acute kidney injury after cardiopulmonary bypass requiring dialysis to pull off fluid and wastes, then nephrology would be consulted to guide care while on dialysis and recovering from acute kidney injury. This is just one example of how complex our patients can be in pediatric critical care.
As a pediatric critical care nurse practitioner, I stabilize critically ill patients and closely monitor their hemodynamics while intervening and adjusting their care plan to ensure adequate end-organ perfusion.
Did you need to get additional education for this position? Please explain.
As a pediatric critical care nurse practitioner, I was required to obtain my master’s degree in either acute care or as a family nurse practitioner. This degree entails two years of higher education and 600 clinical hours.
What do you like most about working as a pediatric critical care nurse?
What I love most about working as a pediatric critical care nurse practitioner is the resilience these kids have.
Throughout my career, I have seen many patients with poor prognoses. Yet, these kids showed their strength and resilience in overcoming a diagnosis that we had labeled “poor prognosis.” Regardless of what they are going through, you can never fail to put a smile on their face, whether with bubbles, singing, or even bringing them toys.
Working in pediatric critical care throughout the years has shown me that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and these kids are creating that light for themselves. It’s a beautiful example that we should all live by every day, and I can see that day in and day out by working in pediatric critical care.
What are your biggest challenges as a pediatric critical care nurse?
My biggest challenge working as a pediatric critical care nurse practitioner is seeing the families suffer throughout this unimaginable time. Another challenge would be seeing patients not be able to overcome their diagnosis.
What are your greatest rewards as one?
My greatest reward is similar to what I like most about working as a pediatric critical care nurse practitioner. Seeing these patients overcome what doctors say “has a slim chance of overcoming” is one of the greatest rewards of being a nurse practitioner in pediatric critical care.
Is there anything we haven’t asked you that is important for our readers to know?
It’s important to remember that as a pediatric critical care nurse practitioner, you are treating the patient and making sure their family is involved with the care plan and understands why we do what we do to have the best outcome for their child. This is a very important aspect of pediatric critical care that I find often may be missed.
Involving parents/guardians in caring for their child and allowing them to do what is safe in the hospital–even in pediatric critical care–is an important aspect that can decrease hospital stays.
For example, post-extubation, a patient may have an oral aversion given having a breathing tube in their mouth. Most kids feel better with their parents/guardians, so allowing the parents/guardians to feed the patient while working with therapies could help them feel better, ultimately allowing for sooner discharge.
Looking for a job as pediatric critical care nurse? Then check out the Daily Nurse Job Board to find a career opportunity near you.
