Pediatric ICU (PICU) Nurse

Who these nurses care for

Critically ill infants through adolescents — respiratory failure, sepsis, post-operative and trauma.

What the shift actually looks like

Ages from days old to eighteen, which means dosing, equipment and communication change with every assignment. Families are present constantly and are part of the care model rather than visitors.

Credentials and certifications

Typically required

BLS, PALS; CCRN-Pediatric valued

Typical ratio

1:1 to 1:2

What to specify when you send the req

Age range, whether the unit takes cardiac or trauma cases, and ECMO capability.

Why this role is hard to fill

The pediatric critical care pool is small nationally and shrinks further with cardiac or ECMO requirements. Book earlier than you would for adult ICU.

What candidates ask before accepting

Answering these in the req itself shortens the process considerably, because they are the questions that otherwise surface at offer stage and cause declines: Age range, whether the unit takes cardiac or ECMO cases, and how post-operative patients are distributed.

Contract or permanent?

Contract for census swings, leave coverage and seasonal surge. Per diem to protect ratios without expanding core FTE. Permanent when the seat is structural. The expensive mistake is running contract labour for eighteen months on a role that was always permanent.

Licensure

Registered nursing is covered by the Nurse Licensure Compact in most of the country, so a multistate license lets a nurse work across member states without a new application. Thirteen jurisdictions sit outside it — Alaska, California, DC, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands — and in those markets every out-of-state nurse needs a single-state license first. Those are the markets where reqs stay open longest.

How we work this req

Every candidate is spoken to before you see them, with licensure for your state, certifications and unit-specific competency confirmed before submittal. We screen to the credential the unit actually needs rather than the title on the posting. Rates sit inside the ranges on our published cost breakdown.