Travel PICU Nurse Jobs

The agencies on Vivian that currently have the most PICU Nurse jobs are TotalMed Staffing (194), Aequor Healthcare (167), and Stability Healthcare (151).

Pediatric Intensive Care Unit nurses are registered nurses who specialize in working with children of all ages with serious medical conditions. Patients range from infants to adolescents, usually up to 18 years old, who may have a chronic illness or disease, be recovering from a complex surgery, or have suffered severe trauma. Besides patient care, pediatric ICU nurses offer emotional support and education to their patients’ parents and other family members. It takes a special kind of RN to work in the PICU, which can be rewarding and/or heartbreaking on any given day. 

Pediatric ICU nurses care for children and adolescents with a wide range of potentially life-threatening ailments or conditions. Patients are usually unstable and require constant monitoring, so PICU nurses usually only have one to three patients per shift to ensure swift intervention if necessary. They collaborate with pediatricians, other medical professionals, and family members to create and implement a comprehensive healthcare plan for patient care and recovery. Common duties include:

Ped ICU nurses work at major hospitals with specialized departments that care for infants, children, and adolescents or pediatric intensive care units. These facilities can be community hospitals, large medical centers, teaching hospitals, and children’s hospitals.

Pediatric ICU nurses must be patient and use kid-friendly approaches that put patients at ease during examinations and treatments that are often painful and/or scary. Age-appropriate bedside manner skills are highly important to help achieve this goal. PICU nurses must be caring and compassionate towards patients and their families, but strong enough to manage tough situations. Coping skills are a must to avoid burnout. Balancing empathy and emotional fortitude can be a difficult skill to master. The best Ped ICU nurses are nurturing and supportive, while keeping their own emotions in check. Good PICU nurses are also team players with great critical thinking skills that allow them and the entire team to respond instantaneously should a patient deteriorate suddenly.

Becoming a travel nurse requires graduating from an accredited nursing program with an associate or bachelor’s degree in nursing and passing the NCLEX-RN exam to become a registered nurse. Caring for children requires Pediatric Advanced Life Support certification and some hospitals require Neonatal Resuscitation Program certification.

Pediatric Intensive Care nurses may hold BLS - Basic Life Support, PALS - Pediatric Advanced Life Support, ACLS - Advanced Cardiac Life Support or CCRN - Certification in Acute/Critical Care Nursing among others.