The introductory unit to occupational therapy services in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) was highly informative and interesting along with being complex. A majority of the content from the Jane Case-Smith and Jane Clifford O’Brien chapter and the Dr. Pamela J. Kling lecture was very new for us and, therefore, was also very exciting. Our knowledge regarding the NICU has now grown after reading and listening to these great resources and we can now understand the specific causes, manifestation, diagnostic procedures and symptoms of a baby in need of spending time in a NICU. Additionally, we can figure out how daily occupations are possibly impacted by experience in a NICU along with the interventions that are commonly utilized by an OT in a NICU.
Cause and Manifestation Causes for needing to spend time in a NICU can be many and unique, but according to our resources from the Jane Case-Smith text and the Dr. Kling lecture, two of these causes includes being born prematurely or because of illicit drug use during pregnancy. The manifestation, or appearance, of a premature infant and an infant of illicit drug use differ in many ways. According to the Jane Case-Smith text, the skin of a premature infant is very thin (Case-Smith & O’Brien, 2015). A study done by Janet Green, Philip Darbyshire, Anne Adams and Debra Jackson also revealed that some NICU nurses even went on to describe the skin of some premature infants as, “jelly-like” (Green, Darbyshire, & Adams, 2014). One
1 Understand the requirements of legislation and agreed ways of working to protect the rights of individuals at the end of life.
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
The new Perth Children’s Hospital estimated at 1.2 Billion AUD, is a major cornerstone of the Western Australian state Government strategy to deliver major social infrastructure for the states future generations (Treasury, 2014). The Perth Children’s Hospital (PCH) is being procured as a two staged managing contract which is being delivered under a fixed price by the tier one contractor John Holland. The stage one design development and external subcontract pricing was carried during prior earlier works and ended December of 2012, by Aurecon, Donald, Cants, Watts & Corke and other consultants (Andrian X Sanchez, 2015). John Holland was required to design and tender 80% of the project prior to the submission of the stage 2 offer. This meant
Overall, I do not feel like a great deal of improvements needed to be made in my delivery of care. I felt comfortable communicating with my nurse and the health care team, assessing the patient, and educating family members. My nurse did not feel well, so she started off the day a little on edge and irritated, but through showing that I was willing to assist her in any way possible, she was more than willing to assist in my learning. I could improve my delivery of care by asking my nurse more questions and looking up more information in the patient’s chart. I noticed that the layout of the NICU was quite different than last week, so I did not have a computer to look up patient information, but rather, I looked alongside my nurse.
The aim of this assignment is to critically discuss the nursing assessment individualised care and nursing interventions of the acutely ill patient. The patient discussed developed severe sepsis due to a urinary tract infection and her condition deteriorated during the recovery process in the nurse’s care. Lovick (2009) defines sepsis ‘as a known or suspected infection accompanied by evidence of two or more of the SIRS criteria’. SIRS is outlined as a ‘systemic inflammatory response’ consisting of two or more of the following symptoms ‘temperature >38 degrees Celsius or 90 beats per minute, respiratory rates greater than 20 breaths per minute and white blood count higher than 12,000 cells per microliter or lower than 4000 cells per
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
The American Association of Critical-Care Nursing (AACN) is the largest nursing organization of a non-profit character in the world. It represents 500,000 nurses and their interests. The responsibility of these nurses is to provide health care services to the critically and acutely ill patients. Thus, the duty of the AACN organization is to give its members all the possible resources and knowledge, so that they could help critically ill clients become healthier. Therefore, I would like to join the AACN organization. To become a member of this particular organization I need to learn more about it by researching some questions.
According to “Human Sexuality: Diversity in Contemporary America,” women and couples planning the birth of a child have decisions to make in variety of areas: place of birth, birth attendant(s), medication, preparedness classes, circumcision, breast feeding, etc. The “childbirth market” has responded to consumer concerns, so its’ important for prospective consumers to fully understand their options. With that being said, a woman has the choice to birth her child either at a hospital or at home. There are several differences when it comes to hospital births and non-hospital births.
Do you want to help save a life in the medical field but not do all the dirty work? Well being a nurse anesthetist is the perfect job for you. You get to be involved with the surgery and you don't need to even touch the insides of another person. Betty Horton, a experienced CRNA, says “Beings a nurse anesthetist is the best job you could ever have. It started my life off and made other things in my life accomplishable.” There are 170,400 jobs available to become a nurse anesthetist. That means there is 170,400 opportunities to help save someone's life. I believe that college is important in order to become a successful nurse anesthetist.
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
This assignment describes my own reflective experience while caring for a sick neonate with Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS) in the neonatal unit. This has enabled me to explore the meaning and significance of my clinical practice and to recognise the complexities within it. The experience raises a number of issues frequently encountered in daily nursing practice. Within this assignment, I will be discussing a particular pre term baby with RDS and critically analyse the use of nasal continuous positive airways pressure (NCPAP) and surfactant therapy and possible effects on baby’s outcome. Pseudonyms will be used to maintain patient confidentiality in order to keep in with the nursing and midwifery council code of conduct. (NMC 2004)The
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.
This essay sets out to discuss the importance of comprehensive and accurate assessment on a registered nurses’ ability to make excellent clinical decisions. It will examine what factors can change a nurses’ capability to be aware of, and act on abnormal assessment findings. As well as assessment being part of the nursing process that is used in every day nursing, it is also a critical part of patient safety (Higgins, 2008). Assessment findings are used to determine what needs to be done for the patient next. Early warning scoring systems currently exist to aid in the early detection of patient deterioration (Goldhill, 2005). The rationale for the use of these systems is that early recognition of deterioration in the vital signs of a
Neonatal septicemia remains significant but underestimated problem around the world and continues to be a important problem for neonates in special care neonatal units.[1] There could be number of reasons for neonatal mortality but neonatal sepsis continues to be a significant cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity. Incidence of neonatal septicemia is largely higher in developing countries than in developed countries.[2] The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, there are about five million neonatal deaths a year, with approximately 98% occurring in developing countries.[3] Despite advances in Neonatal & Pediatric health care, neonatal sepsis, is a significant cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality[3]. Neonatal sepsis is