A neonatal nurse works in an NICU (Neonatal intensive care unit). Their main focus is the care of newborns who need to be kept in the NICU and have special medical care. Some Neonatal nurses follow up on the baby even after it has left the hospital to gain better knowledge on the long term affects of health problems early in life.
While with all types of nursing you are helping people, in neonatolgy you are helping babies survive at younger and younger ages. The positives aspects and most commonly liked qualities of this job are watching the babies progress. You get to take a tiny, tiny baby that is so sick and you help it survive. You watch the baby progress and go from near death to healthy and leaving the hospital to there ever greatful families.
You must also be prepared for the negative aspects of the job too. Like most hospital careers you are required to work long hours, late nights and holidays as well. You must also prepare yourself for the loss of a patient. Some times there is nothing more you can do. You just have to know you tried your best for the little angels and that maybe its for the best, after all they arent suffering.
You must have very good interpersonal skills, this means that you are able to understand people and interact with them. You must have an empathatic understanding for the parents and other family members, meaning you have to understand what they are going through and how to relate to them so they know you really do care and are doing your best. As it should be obvious for this career you need to have an interest in new born babies and the understanding of the physiological and physicological needs of a new born baby.
These skills are not all you need to aquire to become a neonatol nurse or doctor. You must also earn a 4-year college degree, 4-years of medical school 3 years of internship and residency of pediatrics and three years of neonatology fellowship. Wow! that seems like alot! Although you will be saving lives so you do need to be prepared!
Math and science skills are used for problem solving and for measuring the ammounts of medicine given to a patient. It is very important to have common math skills. Fractions, graphs and charts are all part of what you will need to know. health and wellness is a given in this field, because that is your focus. It is important to know and to research the background and mental health of your patients
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A registered nurse or nurse practitioner's opportunities differ from those of a neonatal nurse, because a RN or NP can move up to become nurse-midwives where they go to the patients homes to treat them. This is not an available advancement for a neonatologist, for the simple reason that babies in the condition to need a neonatologist need to be kept in the NICU. A neonatologist can advance by learning new skills and increasing the amount of patients they see. After many years of experience they can move up to be administrators.
Although pay is different for the different shifts that you may work generally you are payed $26/hr. Registered nurses and nurse practitioners with specialized areas can make a large salary, they can have an average range from $30,000 to $50,00.
In this kind of job (NICU,ICU,ER) you are required to work overtime, night shifts and weekends, you are treating people in critical conditions and this can lead to burn out. This is why there will always be job opportunities in nursing. Hospital departments such as those I listed above, experience these job conditions the most, generally will have more job oppenings than other departments.
In Oregon there are no 4-year nursing schools however most schools have a 2-year program and from there you transfer to another school.
Portland
Linfield College
Oregon health and science university
University of Portland
Portland community college
Walla Walla college
Salem
Chemeketa Community college
Oregon City
Clackamas community college
Astoria
Clatsop community college
Eugene
Lane community college
Albany
Linn-Benton community college