I am writing this essay as a part of the requirement for the Overseas Nurses Programme. I would be reflecting on three learning objectives, which are: providing developmental care for neonates to promote sleep and neurodevelopment, nasal care for neonates on nasal CPAP, and providing therapeutic hypothermia or cooling for newborns suffering from hypoxic brain insult. In my previous experience, I was used to the practice of holding neonates anytime I wanted. It was accepted to disturb their sleep in order to provide cares and do procedures. Minimal handling was only implemented for extremely premature babies. When I was exposed to the neonatal unit here in the UK, I was surprised that the practice was very different. Minimal handling is implemented on all babies, nesting is done, the room is kept quiet and the lights are dimmed to ensure that the neonates are not disturbed and are getting enough sleep. I felt uneasy not being able to touch the babies as much. It made me feel that I was not being an efficient carer. So, I kept on checking the baby that I was handling and was told by my mentor to leave the baby alone and allow him to sleep. I did not understand why the practice was different. I asked my mentor about it and she told me about developmental care. That was the first time I heard about developmental care. This led me to reading about it and wanting to learn how it affects the neonates. According to Bertelle et. al. (2005), sleep is the main behaviour of premature
According to Provision seven the attitudes of Deborah and the other nurses on the unit do not advance the nursing profession. Nursing from the beginning of its existence with Florence Nightingale has fought to be considered not only an art but also a science. Scientific research was one of the governing factors of Nightingale’s principles of nursing. She used statistical data to help her keep records of success and failure rates of her nursing interventions. The use of this scientific research proved to be beneficial because it gave substantial scientific evidence that her nursing interventions significantly decreased mortality rates during the Crimean War. The support of her statistical data enabled nightingale to prove to her colleagues and peers that the art of nursing plays a significant role in patient outcome and mortality. This relates to the nurses in the NICU, because since the beginning of nursing evidence based practice has been implemented and deemed useful. For one to denounce future practice of evidence based practice in contemporary nursing will further remove nursing from its professional status. Nursing is one
Today I will inform you about the everyday obligations of neonatal nurses, the explanations of deficiency of staff and the impacts a sufficient number of neonatal nurses can cause in a baby’s life.
Ever since I was about 10, I was extremely interested in becoming a neonatal nurse practitioner. I love babies and love helping others so I figured this particular job could be perfect for me. A neonatal nurse practitioner means you provide care for newborns in need of specialized attention for about the first month of their life. These newborns are usually premature or very sick and the nurse practitioners are usually their primary caregiver. NNP’s are responsible for their patients, exercising judgment when necessary to assess, diagnose, and initiate medical procedures. Many tasks include monitoring specialized equipment, including incubators and ventilators. Providing education and support to patients’ families regarding neonatal, intensive
A baby was just born at 26 weeks gestation. Just over half the normal 40 weeks a baby should stay inside the mother. The baby is immediately whisked away and taken to be evaluated and prepared for a long journey ahead. Ever since I could remember babies and the nursery at the hospital have fascinated me. Whenever we would go visit a friend who had a baby, I would find myself peaking over the windows into the nursery. I have known for a while that working in the neonatal intensive care unit is what I want to pursue. Recently I have been looking into nurse practitioners and furthering my education beyond my BSN. Being able to care for these infants in the most critical stages of their life, and being able to provide them the support they need to survive outside the womb seems so satisfying . Neonatal nurse practitioners have years of education, deep history, detailed job description, high demands and some legal issues.
Like most other professions, nursing is controlled by government regulatory agencies and professional organizations. For instance, boards of nursing in various states are the government entities mandated to regulate nursing at the state level, while the American Nurses Association is a professional organization that governs nursing at the nation level. Regulatory agencies and professional organizations are guided by the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.
Nurses are consistently rated as one of the most trusted professionals in the United States. One of the reasons for this distinction may be the many nurses who obtain specialty certification within their practice area. Certification confirms the nurse has acquired a level of skill and knowledge above average (Rauen, Shumate, & Gendron-Trainer, 2016). It is important to me to obtain certification when I complete the master’s program in informatics at American Sentinel University. This paper will discuss the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) eligibility requirements to become board certified, the competencies required on the certification test, describing those I have mastered, those I have been
A nursing philosophy is the thoughts and beliefs about the job of a nurse based on one’s values. My values that have formed over the years have influenced me to purse a forever career as a nurse. I grew up in a small town Smithfield, Pennsylvania with my parents and younger brother. My community consisted of close relationships between the residents. Every one helped and cared for one another when needed. The practices of my community guided me to want to become a nurse. I want to continue to care for my community and give back to them by treating their illnesses and providing them with better health care. I am particularly interested in caring for pediatric patients. My goal is to try to provide every infant a chance to live their beautiful life created for them by God. While doing this, the primary focus of being a nurse will be to accommodate my patients and allow them to become a healthy person again.
Neonatal nursing is a specialty of nursing that works with newborn infants born with a variety of problems such as prematurity, birth defects, acid reflux, body malfunctions, and surgical problems. The requirements of becoming a neonatal nurse is having good communication with doctors, specialties, family members, administrators, etc. Some qualities are being fast analytical thinkers to make good choices, well-developed stress management skills, be flexible with different changes, and lastly pay attention to detail documentation. It’s a challenging job to treat patients with problems because you’re dealing with their health and family members. However, it’s a rewarding job because it plays a huge role in saving lives in babies and giving good news to the family.
Most infants receive care from Neonatal Nurses in the hospital in the NICU section of the hospital. An infant is usually cared for by the Neonatal unit when the newborn is born prematurely or with a complication in the birth that requires close watch or incubation over the child until it reaches a strength and state of wellness that the patient can be discharged. These nurses or specialists may also be present for the delivery of the child and are also usually there for a follow-up appointment after the patient is discharged to make sure that stable health is maintained.
According to travel nurse growth, It is believed that the origin of travel nurse started from New Orleans in the year 1970, during Mardi Gras week because of the lake of nurses to deal with many patients, therefore, travel nurses where employ for few week to help cover the gap of Lake of nurses in the area. According to American Society of Registered Nurses traveling nurses has grown dramatically as a way to fill a nationwide shortage of nurses at hospitals. ‘What started in the 1980s as a short-term solution to staffing problems has blossomed into an essential part of hospital’. Travel Nursing also offers flexibility, as there are typically no annual contracts involved and you can work on as many assignments as you like.
In the early 1980s it came to light that while the supply of nurses had reached a record high, only 80% of hospitals nationwide had adequate nurse staffing levels (American Nurse Credentialing Center, 2011, p. 8). To address this issue a taskforce was formed within the American Academy of Nursing (AAN). Through an initial study of 165 hospitals, the AAN determined the characteristics of healthcare organizations that were magnetically attracting and retaining nurses as employees (American Nurse Credentialing Center, p. 9). In this study the AAN found “Forces of Magnetism” that contributed to the high level of job satisfaction amongst nurses, superior quality of care, low job turnover, and high level of nurse involvement in leadership, decision-making, and research. In the early 1990s, catapulted by the findings of this initial study, the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) developed the Magnet Recognition Program. The intention of the ANCC’s Magnet Recognition Program was threefold: To reward hospitals that demonstrated “excellence in the delivery of nursing services to patients;” to encourage quality in the nursing work environment to support practicing professional nurses; and to guide navigation for the dissemination of evidenced-based clinical nursing practice (American Nurse Credentialing Center, 2011, p. 14).
Have you ever known somebody who had a baby and they were rushed to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)? A Neonatal nurse is also known as registered nurse. They are extremely important and they are very compassionate. On September 12th, 2012 my nephew John Robinson III was born. Before my Aunt could see her baby boy he was rushed to the NICU. All of us were terrified and scared. John was born premature and his lungs were not developed enough for him to breathe on his own. John had to be given surfactant, and be put on CPAP, so he could breathe. CPAP stands for Continuous positive airway pressure. CPAP is nasal prongs that deliver oxygen at a positive pressure to keep the alveoli open and to improve oxygenation. So with the surfactant
Patient’s in the NICU are considered to be very tiny and fragile and immunocompromised due to their immature organ systems which can lead to many dangerous medical problems. Patricia W. Stone states “maintaining a safe environment reflects a level of compassion and vigilance for patient welfare that is as important as any other aspect of competent health care” (Stone, 2008). The patient’s safety should always be a top concerned for a nurse because in a health care facility the purpose is to heal the patient and get them on the road to recovery. Nurses must learn from the errors of the past and use their knowledge to improve the quality of nursing to the patients to ensure if errors do happen again that the use of evidence-based practices are put into place to improve their outcomes. According to Higher Quality of Care and Patient Safety, “Registered Nurses (RNs) are instrumental in achieving multiple care goals, including promoting infant health and clinical stability, maintaining the integrity and cleanliness of central catheters, and preparing families for their role in infant care and successful transition it home” (Lake, 2016). Nurses are reasonable for the education of the families of the patients to ensure that the best quality of care for the patient is maintained outside the hospital to ensure the best medical outcome for the infants.
The nurse would want to ensure adequate nutrition for the baby and preventing aspiration or infection
Nurses working within the neonatal unit require a particular set of skills to adequately fulfil their roles and responsibilities within this fragile setting. The role of a neonatal nurse is to provide intensive nursing care to an infant who has inherited complications at birth due to varied reasons (Tubs-Colley, Pickler, Younger, & Mark, 2015). These complications often manifest as undeveloped internal organs that make simple bodily functions such as breathing and regulating body temperature incredibly difficult. The neonatal nurse provides close monitoring and extremely individualized care per patient to stabilise and further develop these body systems artificially post-uterine (Drozdowicz & Dillard, 2014).