How is working an adult ICU different than working a pediatric ICU?

For me it was harder when I worked in an adult ICU than it was when I worked with pediatric patients with cancer at a Children’s Hospital . Save for the one year I worked in an adult ICU, I’ve always been a pediatric nurse

In both of the ICU units where I worked, patients were lost due to trauma or illness; however, in the adult ICU , there were too many times that NO family members were there to see, comfort and support their critical relative as he or she lay dying . In those cases, nurses like myself. stepped up to provide touch, comfort, support and caring words to those who were dying alone without a family member or friend being present. I ALWAYS did my best to be with and comfort any patient who was dying alone.

Later in my career, I loved working with ALL the kids with cancer and their families, so it was difficult and personal whenever we couldn't save a child. Fortunately we had a great Heme/Onc team of nurses, doctors, social workers and excellent phlebotomists that ALL supported each other as well as the patients and their families.

I’m now retired from nursing, but it’s still SOOOO wonderful when I’m out and about and come across a former patient who survived cancer and is now an adult, and has remained cancer free!!!

To me, wherever a nurse chooses to work….be it in a pediatric unit, an ICU, a doctor’s office or clinic, MANY of your patients WILL FOREVER LEAVE A FOOTPRINT IN YOUR LIFE!!

HUGE! I have worked in adult ICU and would never want pediatrics. Dosages are measured differently, you have distraught and emotional parents at the bedside and these little patients can’t tell you what hurts. Too many unknown variables for me. I’ve been a nurse for 31 years and critical care was by far my favorite with all of my experience in hospitals. I’ve also raised four healthy adults but someone else’s kid is a different story. My sincere thanks and admiration to the select group who answers this call.