Neonatal Nurse Essay

The duties of a neonatal nurse comprise of caring for newborns with a variety of problems such as premature birth, surgical complications, heart malformations,

Another thing that draws me towards the career is the flexibility. A nurse is able to obtain a job in almost any state as long as they get the correct license for the state. Also, they are able to work in many different settings. A nurse can work in an office setting where the hours are set and they work a normal eight to five job. They are also able to work in a hospital setting, the hours differ when working at a hospital and some are required to work weekends and holidays. The physical demands for both setting would be different. Hospital settings would require lots of walking from room to room as well as running in certain emergency settings. In either setting though a nurse is required to be on their feet for long periods of time. It is not a job to where you would be stuck behind a desk.

There are more than 70% of premature babies that are born between 34 and 36 weeks gestation a year. When a baby is born early, or born with birth defects, the Neonatal Intensive Care unit is its first home. The nurse’s in the NICU have the difficult job of preparing baby’s and parents for a health life together. A baby who has been put into the NICU will stay there until it is healthy enough to go home.

A Neonatal nurse practitioner roughly makes about $107,500 and the income per year is about $124,540. The hourly pay a Neonatal nurse practitioner makes is based on experience. As a registered nurse, neonatal nurses have the opportunity to move into management positions, including moving up to being a unit manager or head nurse. One key to getting an advancement in the career field one has chosen is to continue getting educated and trained, while gaining experience and improved skills.(Benefits of being a Neonatal nurse 2010) Though all jobs have high work loads and stress that come along with it, Neonatal nurses spend many hours standing over incubators or isolette, possibly having to bend over, can stress the back. Neonatal nurses may deal with mental and emotional stress because some sick newborn babies don’t get to go back home with their families and the nurses may have to go and tell the parents of the deceased newborn. (Perkins, Sharon. Pros and Cons of being a Neonatal nurse) The schedule of NNP is not typical work day hours. All infants require different type of care twenty-four hours of the day. There are opportunities to work evening or night shifts when working as a Neonatal

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

One upside to being a neonatal nurse is it is less physical demanding. NICU nurses spend a lot of time at the bedside of an infant administering care or closely observing them in an incubator and less time lifting and transporting much larger adult patients. Another upside to being a NICU nurse is that this career has a great job outlook and increases more and more every year,NICU nursing will always have a job available. There is also always opportunities for job advancements with more schooling. And do not forget the babies! Even though NICU nurses are taking care of these infants on difficult conditions it makes the infants that survive and leave happy and healthy even more special . Nurses get to feel the satisfaction every single day that they are helping to save a small little babies life, and that can be one of the greatest feelings in the world. On the downside, working in the NICU is very overwhelming and stressful knowing that a small infant's life is on your hands . Neonatal nursing is also very emotionally stressful. Everyday an infant that you thought was doing bettering and was perfectly stable could suddenly collapse. Theses nurses also have to deal with parents and family members that are also very stressed out and worried about their child and that can become very emotionally draining as

Neonatal nurses need a lot of clinical experience, mentorships, and preceptor programs. Training might take anywhere from six weeks to three month to complete depending on how much prior work experience. Before one becomes a neonatal nurse you should work as an advanced practice nurse (APRNs). APRNs can work as neonatal nurse practitioners (NNPs) and neonatal clinical nurse specialists (CNSs). APRNs have specialized knowledge and may provide direct care with patients.

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.

All neonatal nurses must be qualified as a registered nurse, earned through an associate’s degree. Some hospitals accept nurse with an associate’s degree while some only accept the ones with a bachelor’s degree. Neonatal nurses are all required to pass the state board of nursing exam, the National Council Licensure Exam. Just to begin the journey in this career, earning an associate’s will take about 2 years. To move higher, quicker continuing an education would be best to be able to earn a bachelor’s in another 2 years. A part-time will do some justice to be able to continue an education and pay it off, as well. It will cost up to as much as $40,000 for tuitions, books, fees and

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

By becoming a nurse, an individual gets to share special experiences with a mother and her new child by helping them throughout the birth process. Nurses will make several bonds and connections with the families and newborns they helped bring into the world. Labor and delivery nurses will get to help care for babies, get good pay, and assist with the delivery. These life changing nurses get to assist with the miracle of life and help families grow

Nurse anesthetists are nurses that have specialized in the administration of anesthesia. They have completed the additional schooling, and other requirements necessary to prepare them for this career. Nurse anesthetists have a challenging career that they are fairly compensated for. It is a respected profession that is estimated to grow significantly in the future. Furthermore there are many options for growth and promotion opportunities. This career comes with a certain amount of autonomy that can be appealing to certain people. It can also be a very stressful job as many times the patients life is left in the hands of the anesthetist. Nurse anesthetists give amazing care to their patients and they

Furthermore, a nurse who works in the NICU department also have the experience with more stress than the nurse who is working in the other department because the NICU nurse has to provide a care for the newborn sick babies. Das & Sankar (2015) have shown that nurses who work in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) must provide highly technical care to immature babies, who are often terminally ill neonates. Therefore, nurses in NICUs experience more stress in having to comfort the babies and those babies’ parents. It is a stressful situation for a nurse to transport an ill newborn baby from the labor room to the NICU.

Even though the term neonatal strictly define the newborn period from birth to 28 days of age , it includes everything from routine care of the normal newborn infant, all the way through to provision of intensive care for the smallest and sickest of infants. In many cases this will involve premature infants who are often older than four weeks of chronological age but less than 44 weeks corrected gestational age. This type of care is complex and generates large amounts of clinical, monitoring and laboratory or imaging data (David & Emma Parry,2009).

The benefits of becoming a Neonatal nurse would be going home every day knowing that I did my best to help save a life. To be a Neonatal nurse, I need to have the ability to be strong, efficient, resilient and I need to have the proper knowledge to take care of a tiny human body. As of right now, I don’t have the proper knowledge that’s needed to take care of a tiny human body, but hopefully I can attain these skills by furthering my knowledge in school. I also need to work on being more resilient. I realize that Neonatal nursing is something that can be hard on a person. More times than not, things don’t go the way they are planned and I need to be able to handle that e stress appropriately. I’m not sure how long it will take before I can become a Neonatal nurse but there is a sense of urgency to accomplish this goal.