New Care for a New Life – Neonatal Nursing

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Neonatal nursing is a specialty in nursing that allows nurses a chance to work with the most vulnerable population of all – newborns. The term neonatal is used to describe the first 28 days of life. Nursing care during that period is critical to the life and healthy development of a child. Neonatal care offers special challenges and rewards to the women and men who work in that profession.

Requirements

Requirements vary from state to state, however, the general standard for neonatal nursing is that the professional is a registered nurse with a 2 or 4 year college degree and has been specially certified by the National Association of Neonatal Nurses. This certification is usually gained through continuing education classes and hospital experience. Many states also require a neonatal nurse to have one to two years of experience in adult health care (such as a med/surg unit) and a year in pediatric nursing.

The Challenges

Neonatal nurses work with all infants right after they are born. They provide standard care for healthy newborns but also must be trained to work with cases where the child is not healthy such as premature births of children born with development difficulties. These children need constant surveillance, around the clock supervision and continuous ability to provide life saving measures. Neonatal nurses don’t only work with the children but also must relate and work with the parents of the newborn – helping mothers learn appropriate ways to care for the special needs of their child and teaching parents how to cope with a child born with special needs.

The other challenge is the patient themselves. Unlike adults or even children in a health care setting – a new born cannot indicate their needs or a crisis situation occurring in the body. The nurse must use excellent diagnostic skills to monitor and help this tender patient along. Special techniques have been developed in the care and treatment of newborns that allow the nurse to provide adequate medication and care to the patient as well as make sure the infant gets enough touch and stimulation which is required early in the life cycle.

The Setting

Neonatal nurses most often work in a hospital setting with an infant ICU ward or other floor that handles newborns. They can also find employment as a private nurse to people who have a child with special needs who require education and help to take their child into the home environment. Most hospices retain the services of at least one neonatal nurse to help parents whose babies are going to die within a few months of birth. Other opportunities lie as contact nurses for OB/GYN offices to help the obstetrician in the primary care and intervention during and after a birth.

Neonatal nursing is a challenging and rewarding profession that offers opportunity and a chance to be the primary care giver in a young forming life.

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Source by Karen Rodgers