Background and Aims In 1997 Pediatric intensive care unit united with adult IC. PICU has a 10-bed capacity. Since beginning of PICU in 1994 in LUMC, qualified nurses from the adult ICU had the opportunity to work in PICU. Some would keep working in PICU and train to qualify as Pediatric Critical Care Nurse .Since 2007 a new training program was introduced: new nursing students now have to qualify in adult ICU as well as in pediatric ICU. The aim is to evaluate this new training program.

Methods Using a written questionnaire we asked students for their motivation and experience regarding this new training program. We kept records of which nurses took care of which patient in each unit.

Results

• A sufficient inflow of young graduates.

• Sufficient qualified nurses in PICU

• 50% of who initially wanted to graduate in adult ICU nursing only, became enthusiastic about working in PICU and now continue to work in PICU either fulltime or parttime.

• Nurses from the adult units can come and help in PICU which means closure of beds could be prevented.

• The possibility of admitting an ill child at an adult unit when there is no bed available at PICU.

• Which very likely leads to less refusals.

Conclusion A good cooperation between adult and pediatric ICU can be very beneficial for patient care. Particularly, training ICU nurses in adult AND pediatric ICU leads to better staffing in PICU.