Interview with Meredith Ledbetter, a NICU nurse.

1. Informational Interview
Meredith Ledbetter RN
Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Interviewed by Savannah Henderson

2. How did you know that you wanted to
become a NICU nurse?
“I went into nursing knowing I wanted to work with
young kids but it wasn’t until my critical care
rotations that I realized I also had a passion for
taking care of very sick patients. The Neonatal
Intensive Care Unit is one of the most critical areas
in a hospital because you are caring for the tiniest
and most fragile patients. After shadowing in
different levels of NICUs, I knew that I wanted to be
the one taking care of these critically ill patients.”

3. What personal qualities or abilities are
important to being successful as a NICU
nurse?
“As a NICU nurse, it is important to remain unbiased
and nonjudgmental. There are many complicated
social situations that arise during any given day, but
it is important to respect your patients and their
families no matter their background. It is also
important to be caring, compassionate, and
understanding. The NICU is a very stressful
environment, and much of my day is spent helping
mothers and fathers adjust to the reality of having a
baby in the NICU.”

4. How do people find out about job openings in
your occupation?
“The best thing to do is research which level of
nursery you want to work in and go from there! I
work in a Level 4 nursery, which takes care of the
most critical babies. After deciding if you want to
focus on critically ill infants or on more stable infants,
you can research which hospitals in your area have
the level of nursery you want. It is beneficial to
routinely check job postings online and to get in
contact with anyone who may be able to help you
get your foot in the door.”

5. If you were starting out again, would you do
anything differently?
“I am a new nurse, I have only been working for 3
months but so far I feel very prepared. Nursing
school provides you with a great background of
general knowledge and once you start working on a
floor you begin to develop skills and learn specifics
about the area in which you are working.”

6. What do you do on a typical day in this
position?
“On a typical day I am responsible for administering
medications, feedings infants, monitoring vital signs,
watching drips, and keeping the healthcare team and
the infant’s families updated. I am the eyes and ears
that are monitoring my patients at each moment
which makes me a vital member of their healthcare
team. Doctors and practitioners rely heavily on
bedside nurses for changes in a patients’ status and
I have to be able to be flexible and prepared for if an
emergency happens. “

7. What are the positive aspects of working in
the NICU?
“The NICU is one of the most rewarding floors I have
ever worked on. There is no better feeling than
helping a mother or father hold their child for the first
time, or watching an infant progress and grow to the
point where we can send them home. I am thankful
when I leave work everyday that I get to participate
in these special moments.”

8. What are the negative aspects?
“Although working in a NICU is very rewarding, there
are hard days. It is not easy watching babies
struggle for their life or watching parents go through
the realization that their baby isn’t the healthy baby
they dreamed of. It is not easy watching a baby
pass away and it’s hard dealing with some social
situations.”

9. How many hours do you typically work each
week? What shifts?
“I typically work 36 hours a week — 3, 12 hour
shifts. Our shift are from 7am-7pm or 7pm-7am.”

10. What is a typical starting salary?
“Salaries are dependent on the city and hospital you
work in but most nurses make between $40,000-
$50,000 right out of school. You are paid hourly and
receive shift differentials for working weekends and
nights which can increase your salary.”

11. What are some of the
rewards of your occupation?
“Being a nurse is the best thing I’ve ever done and I
feel so lucky that I ended up in this
profession. There are hard days but that comes with
any job. At the end of the day, I am thankful that I
get to help people and make a difference in their
life. No matter how small of an impact I have, I know
that I’m helping.”

12. What is the biggest challenge you
have faced in your occupation?
“The biggest challenge I’ve faced in nursing so far is
learning to separate my personal life from my work
life. As a nurse, you have to care about your
patients. However, you have to learn to separate
your personal life from work or else you will end up
bringing work home with you. While it’s important to
care, you can’t let work take over everything. It’s
important to have ways to destress and unwind after
a hard shift.”

13. What advice would you give
someone entering this field?
“Follow your dreams and don’t give up. I never thought I
would get hired into my dream job right out of college but
I took a chance and wound up working in Vanderbilt’s
NICU. It’s important to be realistic, not everyone gets
their dream job right away. But knowing where you want
to end up means that you can plan out a pathway to get
there even though it may take a year or two. Nursing is
wonderful because you can go from working in geriatrics
to working with renal patients to working in pediatric
oncology. A degree in nursing will take you far and will be
one of the most rewarding things you’ve done.”

14. What, if anything, do you wish you
had known before you entered this
job?
“I wished I had known more information specific to
my floor. Nursing school provides you with a general
knowledge base and it is up to you to learn the
specifics about where you are working. Essentially
your first year as a nurse is like another year of
school because it is a huge learning curve.”

15. Is there a demand for people
in this field?
“Yes! There is always a demand for nurses!”

16. What is unique about your
job?
“Although the clinical side of my job is taking care of
babies, there is a lot of time spent interacting with
their parents. This is different that an adult floor
where the patients advocate for themselves. Also,
we form bonds with these families more so than on
other floors. Some infants stay in the NICU for
almost 1 year…you get close with these babies and
their families. It is also different taking care of
patients who are the size of your hand or who weigh
less than 1 pound, everything in the NICU is
adjusted to help these infants grow and thrive to the
best of their abilities.”