Nicu Reflection Report

Ever since I was a little girl, I was always telling my parents I wanted to be a doctor to help people. As I got older my sisters had babies and I always wanted to hold them and take care of them furthermore, just recently I had come across a defined profession caring for infants in a great deal of need. I have been interested in helping people in need, performing surgeries and caring for infants since I was approximately eight years old. I have recently been doing some research on a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP), and believe that the job description fits me well. I would find a colossal amount of joy in being a NNP because I love being around babies and would enjoy being able to make a difference in their early life, as well as in their family’s lives.

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.

The last week of classes for NURS1005 were a series of clinical skills activities. These activities refreshed the student’s minds on what they will be doing on placement and how to do it. We got assessed on three clinical skills; taking and recording vital signs, blood glucose levels and doing a urine analysis. I’ve chosen to reflect on taking vital signs and how I performed them. Reflection is a very important part of learning from experiences which is essential in nursing. Nursing practises continue to change and it is easier to go with and to add to that change if you are reflecting on your practise. This essentially makes nursing practises better for the patients. I have reflected on the process of how I took the vital signs during my clinical skills activities. I was very nervous but believe I performed them well due to how I was taught, what I have read and seen and the vital signs signified how my peer was acting which was healthy and within a normal range. Even though I felt I did them well, there were improvements that could and have happened since. Most of the improvements are minor in comparison to the strengths I have but it is important to recognise improvements when needed so you are giving the best and accurate care. I was aware of these improvements needed and tried to strengthen them during my clinical placement which helped me learn different ways of doing processes and also the rationale behind the processes.

I am interested in pursuing a career in nursing. A career that really interests me is a neonatal intensive care nurse. This is a type of nurse that works in a neonatal intensive care unit. These nurses often work with infants who were born prematurely, born with birth defects, or infants who are having critical complications during the first month after birth. Infants in the neonatal intensive care unit require constant monitoring and are often being treated for life threatening diseases. According to The National Association of Neonatal Nurses (NANN) approximately 40,000 infants are born each year in the United States needing specialized NICU care. NICU nurses are always present when a baby is being delivered so they can provide immediate

Pursuing a career in nursing brings me an internal satisfaction beyond words. I enjoy being around people and I feel with my caring and empathetic soul, I can use that to heal the mind, body and souls of my patients. My reason for wanting to return to college comes from my desire to be in a position to make an impact on someone’s life. In my current position I provide assistance to individuals on a daily basis, but it is not satisfying my need to help heal. I am currently 30 years old and I love children and I am eager to work with children and when I would like to know about their little bodies so that I can be aware of how to help them. I naturally have the need to nurture and protect others. I have 2 nieces and when each of them was born I was so impressed by the level of care that the NICU nurses provided to

My anticipated careee field after college is to work as a neonatal nurse practitioner. My plan is to go to Coloumbus state university and acquire my nursing degree. To eran a residereed nurse degree you must complete a 4 year degree. Due to taking dual enrollement classes in high school I should finish in less than 3. The I will transfer to Emory University or Berry College to get my nurse practitioner degree in approximately 2-4 years. Becoming a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner a person must have RN licensures and state authority for advanced practice. They must also have 2-4 years of experience in he feild or related area. The applicant must be familiar with advanced concepts, practices and proceedurs within the chosed field. Nurse practitioners

I want to be a neonatal nurse who takes care of newborn infants who were born prematurely. There are some procedures that may be needed for the care of the baby. What I know about a neonatal nurse is that you need to have a four year bachelors and masters of science in nursing degree. The reason I'm interested in this career is because I want to save lives and make a difference in the lives of the infants and their families. This career is something I will enjoy doing even if it can be sad at times.

Registered Nurses have a lot of responsibilities and other jobs, the career I chose is a NICU Nurse. They work in the rooms with babies to monitor any complications, but mostly premature babies. I chose this career because I love babies and I would love to be the reason why a baby got better. This career will be a great fit for my life goals because I’ve always wanted to be a nurse and I love working with babies so why not put both the things I love into one.

A young, pregnant woman is sitting anxiously at the hospital waiting to hear the results of her ultrasound. As she waits, she remembers the horrible car accident she had just been in less than two hours ago. After a short time, the doctor comes in and confirms the young woman’s fears, her soon to be twins had no heartbeat and were gone. Unfortunately, this scenario is all too familiar for me because I lost my soon to be twin nephews due to a car accident. Within a split second, my entire world was changed all because a young man did not want to stop at a red light. Although the loss of my nephews was devastating, it did inspire me to help any mother I could in hopes that, she too, would not have to go through the same pain and heartache. Because of my new-found drive, I have decided to become a neonatal nurse, which, is a nurse who works with new born babies in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). Being a neonatal nurse

Career Description Neonatal nursing is a type of nursing that specialize in providing care for healthy or ill newborns. In neonatal nursing, there are three levels of the specialty. Level one cares for healthy newborns. Level two is for premature or ill newborns. Level three has more responsibilities.

Thank you, Maria, for your post! I am a nurse, and I did my clinical in a NICU. I saw first hand what happened to babies born from drug and alcohol abuse mother. Drinking alcohol while pregnant is bad, but I agree with your judgment. Psychiatric medications are considered to have a detrimental effect on the fetus, but when we have pregnant psychotic patients that are violent (I work in psychiatry), we medicate them with a lower dose of medications despite of the damage that it can cause to the baby. We medicate them knowing the risk because it will cause more harm if we live them without medications. This author would never agree with pregnant women drinking alcohol not even in moderation, but I do see your point. If the mother drinks a glass

There is an increasingly large need for the care provided by certified child life specialists as the healthcare field continues to move toward more well rounded, family-centered care. The stressors and trauma caused by the hospitalization of a family member can leave life-long negative impacts. While the child life field is expanding quickly, little attention has been paid to the psychosocial, emotional, and developmental needs of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients and families. Parents and siblings of infants in NICUs face communication gaps from doctors and nurses, and stress and anxiety when struggling to understand not-so-easily comprehensible medical jargon. Additional negative impacts take effect when attempting to cope with

Obeidat, Bond, and Callister (2009) conducted a level I systematic review and meta-synthesis to better understand the challenges parents of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) face. Thorough research was done using Science Direct, MEDLINE, Blackwell Synergy, CINAHL, Highwire Stanford, Ebscohost, Hinari and Ovid databases. The search terms used were: “parents and NICU,” “mothering experience and qualitative studies,” “preterm infants and NICU,” “mothering preterm infants,” “mothers’ experience and NICU” and “mothers’ stories and preterm infants.” At the conclusion of the search, sixty articles of interest were located, but only fourteen met the inclusion criteria. In order to be eligible for inclusion into this study, articles had to be of a qualitative nature, studying parental experience in the NICU. Specific reasons for exclusion to the study were not identified (Obeidat et al., 2009).

During todays clinical I feel I was able to reach the goals I set for myself. At the beginning of the day before our interactions with patients, our group talked with the tech Joel and was able to get an understanding of what the staff do and what safety measures they implement. We were also able to listen to the shift report, which I found to be very helpful for us. The report gave us an early understanding of what had happened on the prior shift as well as a little insight as to which patient may need more monitoring or personal interactions. During the day I was able to observe the interactions between patients and techs, nurses, and group leaders throughout the day. I feel my communication skills started off slow when interacting with the

I did not realize Occupational Therapist (OT) worked in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). I thought the babies in the NICU were too fragile and not developed enough to be seen by an OT. I learned a great deal about the OTs roll in the care of infants in the NICU. As the guest speaker went over the different interventions OTs provide for the infant make sense. I am unsure about majority of this setting because I had no clue about this particular setting till this class. I am unsure about this setting because I do not see myself working in this area because it was making me sad seeing the infants in the pictures provided in the presentation. I personally make connections with patients and I get attached, so working in the NICU would