Neonatology Essay

Neonatal nurses are registered nurses who are responsible to care for newborns who are critically ill or premature. (Slide 1: Neonatal nurses with babies [Photos]).

Neonatal nurse practitioners work under the physician to provide special care to infants that are seriously ill. A NNP “orders labs, administers medications, diagnoses conditions and preforms invasive surgeries under the supervision of a doctor” (Neonatal Nurse Practitioner | What is a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner?). Many will even take over large loads of patients when hospitals have a shortage of qualified nurses. Neonatal nurse practitioners

There are a lot of different equipment and people who are involved in the NICU. The equipment varies from feeding tubes to ventilators and many other things. Feeding tubes are used on the babies who are unable to eat from a bottle. The nurse puts the tube either through the mouth or nose and it goes all the way to the stomach. Ventilators are used when a baby has trouble breathing. It helps to keep oxygen flowing through out the baby’s body until the lungs are able to fully function by themselves. Phototherapy is also used in the NICU, it is used to get rid of bilirubin which is the cause of jaundice. In the NICU they use Monitor's which allows them to keep track of the babies vital signs. “Arterial lines are some what similar to an IV but they are placed in arteries and are used to measure blood pressure and the oxygen level.” Isolettes are the small bed that are enclosed by clear hard plastic. Infant warmers are beds that

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

To become a neonatal nurse one has to obtain a registered nursing degree or at least have an undergraduate degree. One must have a completed master’s degree or doctor of nursing practice degree in neonatal nursing. This will take you two to three years after you have your registered nursing degree. Neonatal nurses like registered nurses are required to do clinical training during school. Neonatal nurses also have to do skill labs and intensive training.

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.

I am passionate of becoming a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner. I got inspired to work in this field when I interned at hospitals such as the Veterans and at Community Regional Center in the children's clinic. I have always worked with children and like being part of their lives. Ever since I volunteered at Storey Elementary After school Program with kids on their homework, it assured me that working with children is what makes me happy. I want to impacts others lives positively. I am serious about my career path and I take every advantage to learn more about it. This was one of the reasons why I had taken part of the UCSF Doctors Academy program, because I wanted to learn more about the health profession and be exposed to it. Being part of the

Premature babies typically have underdeveloped respiratory systems and problems maintaining body heat, so they may be kept on a respirator or in an incubator. Although the neonatal period is the first month after birth, these nurses often care for children up to age 2 who have long-term medical issues. While their primary focus is the health of the babies, neonatal nurses obviously will spend a lot of time with anxious parents who are visiting their children in the NICU and must be able to calmly and clearly explain the babies illnesses and treatment, as well as involve the parents in their

As of 2013, around 353,000 babies were born in one day, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Be Fruitful and Multiply). Delivering babies is very difficult and strenuous, luckily labor and delivery nurses are trained to help care for the mother during the process of welcoming her newborn into the world safely. Labor and delivery nurses play a very crucial role in helping the delivery of babies and bringing safety and peace to the mother. I am choosing to pursue a career as a labor and delivery nurse because they get to provide care to babies, they get paid well, and they get to assist in the delivery process.

NICU Nurses are responsible for care of infants who may be diagnosed with diseases, delivery complications and, the one we see most, prematurity. They develop nursing care plans and assess, plan, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of treatments in these plans. On

Some nurses turn up the babies’ oxygen because of other health care issues such as patent

The APN leader interviewed for this paper is a Board Certified Nurse Practitioner (CNP), Chery Arnett works in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for Memorial Hospital of Carbondale. She began as a registered nurse in 1981, then in 2001earned her CNP title. She manages and cares for the ill neonate, collaborates with Neonatologist and Pediatricians to improve overall health outcomes. She provides support and assists ventilation, assists with deliveries both “normal” and high risk infants, provides care for the healthy newborns, also providing guidance to parents for caring for the “neonate” or healthy newborns. She is also responsible for assessments, orders, treatment plans, medications, and discharge of the infant. CNP’s provide initial, ongoing and comprehensive care, including managing patients with acute and chronic illness and diseases for both premature infants and term infants.

For the study, academic pediatric centres were required to have full-time training programs in pediatrics and pediatric surgery as well as a level 3 neonatal intensive care unit (ICU) while a community hospital must have had a neonatal ICU or special care nursery, no full-time pediatric or surgical training and 1000+ pediatric admissions between April 2008 and March 2009. All participating patients were under 19 years of age with a hospital stay over 24

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.

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).