The specialized area of neonatal nursing is still fairly new when compared to that of midwifery, adult health or other specialized areas in nursing. This area came about in the 1960s and has been in existence since then. Neonatal is a term that is used to describe babies in the first 28 days after birth and as such, a neonatal nurse is one who is responsible for providing care to a new born at this stage.

The Role of a Neonatal Nurse

A neonatal nurse is capable of working in either the nursery at a hospital on the maternity wards or within the community. In most cases, these hospitals will have their nursery set up in three levels; level I, II and II. Level I refers to that area of the nursery that houses babies that were born healthy. This level is almost becoming non-existent as healthy babies and their mothers are no longer spending many days in the hospital and in some cases share a hospital room.

Level II refers to those babies that have special needs. In most cases these babies were born premature or are suffering from some kind of illness. At this level, babies may require specialize feedings, intravenous therapy, supplemental oxygen or a little more time to develop before they are allowed to go home to their family.

Babies who are sent to level III have situations that are too complicated for the other two levels in the nursery. Babies at this stage are normally so sick that they are in need of assistance from high technology, for example ventilators, surgery or some special equipment. They may also be premature or too small for their age. Level III nursery units are normally present at big general hospitals or children hospitals. Direct care for these babies is provided by the neonatal nurses.

Educational Requirement

The requirements for entering the field of neonatal nursing at a hospital will vary across these institutions. However, there are some general requirements. You must first be a registered nurse; this process can take you anywhere between 2 or 4 years, depending on whether or not you are doing an associate degree or a bachelor’s degree. After completing college or university you will then need to pass a state licensing exam go be recognized as a registered nurse. In some nursing program neonatal nursing may be offered as an elective, but there is no special program for this area in the basic RN education curriculum.

There are medical centers and hospitals that will accept students that are just graduating from nursing school as neonatal nurses, but this may be dependent on the scarcity of these nurses at the time. Most institutions require that you have at least one or two years of experience as medical surgical nurse or an adult health nurse before entering this field. If you have desires to venture in this field, you can go on to graduate school to become a clinical nurse specialist or a neonatal nurse practitioner.

Salary

Today neonatal nurses are needed and the salary paid is slightly dependent on the area where you live. However, on average beginner nurses get a minimum of $30,000 with as high as$48,000 with no experience. Of course this is expected to be higher with experience.

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Category: Career
Keywords: neonatal nurses,neonatal nurse,neonatal nursing