I. Raise your hand if you are a parent. To all the parents that raised their hands, think back to the time you and your spouse were in the hospital room anxiously waiting for your unborn child to arrive. How happy were you when the nurse placed your baby into your arms? That feeling of seeing your healthy newborn baby for the first time is unexplainable, but how would you feel if your newborn was born prematurely or had birth defects? II. The short-staff of neonatal nurses has led to more than 23,000 American infants died in 2014, or about 6 for every 1,000 live births (Vital Record New). III. Twenty-one years ago, my parents received the devastating news that my lungs were not developing properly and as a result my mom had an induced labor. I was born as a premature baby, weighing only 3 lbs. and was placed in the care of neonatal nurses in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for 18 days. While my mom came to visit me, she would notice how well the nurses would care for me. Though their jobs were tough, the nurses would often carry me while I was crying and would often talk me to sleep, sometimes singing lullabies. IV. This situation has made me grateful to be alive since I was able to be brought back to health due to these wonderful neonatal nurses who helped me recover, but not many newborn babies are fortunate enough to survive just like me as newborn babies have died and suffered due to the lack of supervision that neonatal nurses are incapable of providing. V. 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. Let’s begin by explaining what neonatal nurses are. Body I. 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]). Knowing what a neonatal nurse does for our newborn children will help us understand what exactly they do to them while they are not with us in the hospital room. A. The duties of a neonatal nurse comprise of caring for newborns with a variety of problems such as premature birth, surgical complications, heart malformations,
Labor and delivery nurses not only get to assist in delivery, but they get to help care for babies after delivery. After birth, the baby’s umbilical cord must be cut. Typically, the father of the baby will cut the cord, but if the cord is wrapped around the baby’s neck, it can restrict blood flow and must be cut immediately (Winder). The doctor must take charge and free the baby from choking by cutting the cord as quickly as possible. The nurse must remain calm and be ready to quickly check the baby to make sure everything is looking healthy. They must check its heart beat, clean out its nose and mouth, make sure it is breathing normally, make sure it has all ten fingers and toes, and check the weight and length of the baby (What Can I Do Now? Nursing
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 n eonatal nurse practitioner is a nurse practitioner that specializes in caring for neonates. Nurse practitioners are in the broad category of advanced practice registered nurses, or APRN’s. In order to become a neonatal nurse practitioner, one must first be a licensed registered nurse and have a BSN. Many programs also require nurses to have two years of clinical experience before starting the program to become a nurse practitioner (United States, 2014). To become a neonatal
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.
There are many steps into becoming a neonatal nurse practitioner. First I must become a
The information I found out about a neonatal nurse was that their duties include administering medications, monitoring vital signs and providing vital nutrients to newborns. Most premature and sick newborns have lungs that aren't fully developed, the neonatal nurse must ensure that infants are breathing and maturing properly. They provide complete care for babies, such as attend deliveries, weigh and measure infants, bathe them and monitor their health. They also teach new parents about newborn care and breastfeeding. Hospital work requires nurses to be composed, caring and in control every second of their shift. Although neonatal nurses witness the miracle of birth every day, they also view untimely
The demand for this level of neonatal nursing is decreasing because mothers and newborn babies are now more likely to stay in the same room together after birth. Level II nurses are much more in demand because premature and sick babies need constant attention. Level III nurses have the most intensive responsibilities, working in the NICU and monitoring seriously ill or premature infants around the clock. They check ventilators and incubators, make sure babies are responding well, and teach parents how to care for their infants properly.” Many Neonatal nurse work in the NICU. They give medical care to the babies that are at risk newborns. Neonatal nurse tend to care for 1-4 babies at a
Typically the work environment setting for a neonatal nurse practitioner will be in a hospital’s NICU. But, sometimes the nurse will be sent to a patient’s home for a follow-up visit. A dentist will usually work in a private dental office of some sort. Because neonatal nurses typically do not work for a private practice, he or she will not get to make their own hours like a dentist usually does. Because each job involves treatments that may be painful, the work environment and staffing must promote a positive atmosphere to decrease the patient/parental anxiety. That being said, it
Neonatal Nurse Practitioners (NNP) refers to and cares for newborns in their first 28 days of life. Neonatal nurse practitioners practice advanced skills in order to provide care for healthy newborns, as well as newborns who need individualized attention. These nurses care for premature and sick newborns in many different settings: neonatal intensive care units (NICU), emergency rooms, delivery rooms, or specialty clinics(Nurse). NNP’s level of care enables them to preform multiple duties consisting of: monitoring specialized equipment, providing education to the families of the sick newborns, administering medications, preforming diagnostic tests and other procedures in order to establish a treatment plan for the newborns,
What they do- Oncology nurses work with patients who are suffering from cancer, or who are undergoing treatments for cancer. They also educate and take care of those patients who are high risk, or in remission from cancer. Neonatal nurses work with premature babies and babies who have gone full-term but who are at risk or have critical illnesses, injuries, or other life threatening problems.
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
There is a wide range of what a Labor and Delivery Registered Nurse can provide, such as planning a care system, taking vitals, monitoring patients, teaching them to care for their newborn, performing tests, recording, and charting information about patients, helping deliver a baby, and consulting with staff; just to name a few.
This is a sobering statistic: “the odds of a patient dying in hospitals with an average workload of 8 patients per nurse are 1.26 times greater than in hospitals where the mean workloads of 4 patients per nurse” (Aiken, Clarke, Sloane, Lake & Cheney, 2008). A rubber band can only stretch so far before it breaks. It would follow that attempts to improve patient care must address adequate patient-to-nurse ratios and workload.
The nurse would want to ensure adequate nutrition for the baby and preventing aspiration or infection
On November 8, 1997 everyone called my sister and I miracle babies because we were born premature; we were two and a half months early weighing less than two pounds. The nurses passed us around in their palms due to the astonishment of our critical neonatal case. My sister and I had to be transferred from hospital to hospital due to a lack of technology in the unit, knowledge from the nurses and communication from the doctor to my mother. We had a low chance of survival, but then a revelation happened, we survived! This experience has impacted me to make a greater voice for healthcare policy and an enhanced image for nurses in the profession by providing knowledge and professional care using adequate technology.