The Importance of Neonatal Nursing 'Bonding with Patients'

There are nine core competencies that the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) has adopted in which the nurse practitioner student’s education is based on: scientific foundation, leadership, quality, practice inquiry, technology and information literacy, policy, health delivery system, ethics, and independent practice competencies. This writer will describe and summarize the competencies as they relate to the nurse practitioners practice. After extensive research by this writer, she was able to conduct a thorough interview with a Certified Nurse Practitioner (CNP). This writer has learned how the working CNP utilizes the competencies in her practice as a Neonatal Certified Nurse Practitioner.

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.

Neonatal nurse practitioners work under the physician to provide special care to infants that are seriously ill. A NNP “orders labs, administers medications, diagnoses conditions and preforms invasive surgeries under the supervision of a doctor” (Neonatal Nurse Practitioner | What is a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner?). Many will even take over large loads of patients when hospitals have a shortage of qualified nurses. Neonatal nurse practitioners

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. As we (as nursery nurses) are the ones that spend time with the children and look after them, we are the first contact for not only the children but for their parents too. So it’s very important that we are seen as professional and competent people at all times. I, as an individual, work alongside a small team of professional childcare workers to support, inspire, care for and look after all the children within my care. I will maintain a safe environment for the children to explore, learn and play in. I am polite to other staff, children and parents and communicate well with everyone.

A baby was just born at 26 weeks gestation. Just over half the normal 40 weeks a baby should stay inside the mother. The baby is immediately whisked away and taken to be evaluated and prepared for a long journey ahead. Ever since I could remember babies and the nursery at the hospital have fascinated me. Whenever we would go visit a friend who had a baby, I would find myself peaking over the windows into the nursery. I have known for a while that working in the neonatal intensive care unit is what I want to pursue. Recently I have been looking into nurse practitioners and furthering my education beyond my BSN. Being able to care for these infants in the most critical stages of their life, and being able to provide them the support they need to survive outside the womb seems so satisfying . Neonatal nurse practitioners have years of education, deep history, detailed job description, high demands and some legal issues.

A nurse is given an opportunity to help patients, either if its by helping them through a very serious sickness or just helping a patient get to the bathroom on time, or a time when happiness is overfilling the room and a child is being born. Registered nurses provide a wide variety of patient care services (Mitchell, p.12). A Nurse must always know where to begin and where to stop, as any other career in the health field there is always something that cannot be done by everyone but only the certified person, a nurse must always remain inside her scope of practice to prevent any misunderstandings. A nurse must also follow a code of ethics , the code of ethics of the American Association of Medical Assistants states that a nurse should at all times render service with full respect and dignity of humanity, respect confidential information obtained by a patients file, uphold the honor and high principles the profession and accept its discipline, and last but not least always want to improve her services to better serve the health and well being of the community. (Mitchell, p.65).

Compassion and respect is another ethical principle that a nurse must show for others that he or she comes into contact with, including the mother if suspected of child abuse.

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

A nursing philosophy is the thoughts and beliefs about the job of a nurse based on one’s values. My values that have formed over the years have influenced me to purse a forever career as a nurse. I grew up in a small town Smithfield, Pennsylvania with my parents and younger brother. My community consisted of close relationships between the residents. Every one helped and cared for one another when needed. The practices of my community guided me to want to become a nurse. I want to continue to care for my community and give back to them by treating their illnesses and providing them with better health care. I am particularly interested in caring for pediatric patients. My goal is to try to provide every infant a chance to live their beautiful life created for them by God. While doing this, the primary focus of being a nurse will be to accommodate my patients and allow them to become a healthy person again.

It is vital for the nurse to understand all aspects of human growth and development, such as nutrition and pregnancy complications in order to be prepared for any situation.

Nurses may play different roles in the field, but their responsibilities are all very similar. Nurses must be confident in everything they do and be patient with people. They should have strong listening

In the professional setting, knowing the patient through his or her diagnosis, name, history of present illness, laboratory results or reason for staying in the hospital only contributes to the manner of physical care of the patient. However, recognizing the patient 's spiritual needs such as emotional support, mental positivity, and intellectual understanding of his or her situation gives a better assessment, as well as a trusting relationship between the nurse and the patient, as per personal experience. In the ward, it is evident that most of the staff nurses spend their time doing documentations, preparing medications, following-up laboratory requests, as well as reading through the patients ' charts to affirm the physician 's order. Throughout the duration of our shifts as student nurses, I see that the most that the staff nurses get to be conversant with the patient is when certain procedures (such as feeding through nasogastric tube, taking

Patient’s in the NICU are considered to be very tiny and fragile and immunocompromised due to their immature organ systems which can lead to many dangerous medical problems. Patricia W. Stone states “maintaining a safe environment reflects a level of compassion and vigilance for patient welfare that is as important as any other aspect of competent health care” (Stone, 2008). The patient’s safety should always be a top concerned for a nurse because in a health care facility the purpose is to heal the patient and get them on the road to recovery. Nurses must learn from the errors of the past and use their knowledge to improve the quality of nursing to the patients to ensure if errors do happen again that the use of evidence-based practices are put into place to improve their outcomes. According to Higher Quality of Care and Patient Safety, “Registered Nurses (RNs) are instrumental in achieving multiple care goals, including promoting infant health and clinical stability, maintaining the integrity and cleanliness of central catheters, and preparing families for their role in infant care and successful transition it home” (Lake, 2016). Nurses are reasonable for the education of the families of the patients to ensure that the best quality of care for the patient is maintained outside the hospital to ensure the best medical outcome for the infants.

The nurse would want to ensure adequate nutrition for the baby and preventing aspiration or infection