Neonatal Nursing

Neonatal nursing involves the delivery of nursing care to newborns up to 28 days. It is another filed of nursing that is full of challenges. Many nurses consider this field especially to those who are interested with neonates. As a challenging field, before a nurse considers being a neonatal nurse, he/she must be able to meet the minimum qualifications depending on the policy of an institution. Just like adult and elderly care, this field of nursing deals with life and calls for a professional who has a heart for taking care of sick individuals.

Patients in the neonatal unit have diagnoses that range from very mild to severe cases. Whichever case a nurse is assigned to, a very vigilant attitude must be assumed because neonates are very unstable thus needing a closer look and monitoring. A critical nurse must also be well versed in the most important part of nursing which is the assessment part. It is in the assessment that a nurse bases his/her interventions. A clinical eye for assessment must be developed so that proper interventions will be done. And with proper interventions, a very favourable outcome will be achieved.

There are nursing procedures that are done only in the neonatal care setting. These are procedures that ensure that a neonate will be able to adapt to the environment outside the mother’s womb. Maintaining an environment that is similar to the mother’s womb is a major concern in neonatal nursing. For example, a newborn must not be exposed to a very cold temperature because for nine months they stayed in the mother’s womb where temperature is warm.

Medicating a neonate is also a challenge because they cannot take an oral medicine. Neonates take medication via intravenous route thus necessitating an access. With the built of neonates, inserting an intravenous cannula can be very challenging and neonates even though they may not complain of pain, still they feel the same pain that adults feel. Sometimes the issue of pain among neonates is taken for granted since they cannot do any other thing other than to cry in order to react to pain. Medications are given with much precaution because a neonate’s system is very sensitive. Referral to a physician for any untoward findings is also one of the responsibilities that a neonatal nurse must perform. A neonatal nurse must be able to tell which behaviours of a neonate are normal and which are abnormal.

This growing field of neonatal care calls for nursing students to consider such an exciting world. In this field, keen senses that must be present in a nurse will be developed because infants are not capable of complaining but it is the nurse’s assessment that will be able to speak for the patient. This thing, again, is what we call the clinical eye of a nurse, an eye that can look beyond the signs that can be seen in a patient. This, I believe, is the real essence of nursing, being able to make the right assessment.