NICU Nursing Information

1. Neonatal Intensive Care
Nursing

2. Education and Certifications
• An associates or bachelors degree is required to work as a
neonatal nurse.
• Some neonatal intensive care units (NICU) require prior
experience in infant care such as:
• Pediatrics
• Well-newborn nursery
• Most NICUs will hire new graduate nurses and provide programs
that teach how to care for sick infants.
• After working with neonates for a time, some nurses choose to
take a national certification test to validate their knowledge but it is
not required.
• Those who pass this certification test are awarded the title RNC-NIC.

3. Career Opportunities
• Neonatal intensive care nurses can work in
several nursery environments:
– Level II Nursery- Special Care Nursery
• Care for babies born at 32 weeks gestation or older
– Level III Nursery- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
• Care for babies born earlier than 32 weeks gestation
• Provide full range of respiratory support
• Perform advanced imaging and interpretation
– Level IV Nursery- Regional NICU
• Highest level of NICU care
• Located within an institution that has wide surgical
capabilities

4. Advanced Practice Opportunities
• Neonatal nurses can eventually go on to
become:
– Clinical nurse specialists
• Provide education programs and support to nursing
staff
– Developmental care specialists
• Provide direct care and assist colleagues in meeting
the developmental needs of infants
– Neonatal nurse practitioners
• Work with physicians and nursing staff to provide
comprehensive critical care to infants

5. Relevant Publications
• Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing
• Advances in Neonatal Care (ANC)
• Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal
Nursing
• Neonatal Network: The Journal of Neonatal
Nursing
• Journal of Neonatal Nursing

6. Professional Organization:
Association of Women’s Health,
Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses
• Mission Statement:
The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and
Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) is a 501©3 nonprofit
membership organization that promotes the health of
women and newborns. Our mission is to improve and
promote the health of women and newborns and to
strengthen the nursing profession through the delivery
of superior advocacy, research, education and other
professional and clinical resources to nurses and
other health care professionals.

7. AWHONN’s Goals of Practice
• Goal I: Public Visibility
– AWHONN will be a leading source of information and
influence related to the health of women and
newborns.
• Goal II: Evidence-Based Care for all Women and
Newborns
– AWHONN will lead the generation, dissemination,
implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based
practice.
• Goal III: Membership and Community
– AWHONN will be the essential community for nurses
and other committed to the healthcare of women and
newborns.

8. AWHONN’s Continuing Education
• AWHONN offers continuing education in
the areas of:
– Fetal Heart Monitoring Case Assessment and
Testing (FHMCAT)
– Perinatal Advanced Continuing Education
(PACE)
– Neonatal Orientation and Education Programs
(NOEP)
– Perinatal Orientation and Education Programs
(POEP)

9. AWHONN’s Current Initiatives
• The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric,
and Neonatal Nurses advocates for many
beneficial causes including:
– Newborn screening
– The importance of fetal heart monitoring
– Breastfeeding promotion and education
– Improved health information technology for the
perinatal setting
– Contribution of unlicensed personnel (nursing
assistive personnel) in the care of women and
newborns while still leaving nurses with the ultimate
responsibility for coordinating and delivering care

10. Standards of Practice
Neonatal nurses…
1. Will respect family autonomy and strive to insure
families have accurate, complete and
understandable information in order to make
informed decisions
2. Maintain their professional integrity when resolving
conflicts, always insuring that patients’ safety and
best interests are protected
3. Insure patients’ and families’ rights and privacy are
maintained
4. Insure that professionals working in collaboration
with them are competent to practice

11. Standards of Practice Continued
Neonatal nurses…
5. Take accountability and responsibility for their own
practice and educational needs to maintain
competence and professional growth
6. Enhance their environment and advance the
profession through active participation in policy
development and professional involvement
7. Will use knowledge and skills for the advancement
of human welfare with consideration and respect for
individual differences

12. Research Areas
• Overall preterm birth complication and outcomes
• Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD)
• Serious respiratory condition affecting premature infants in
which they have inflammation or scarring of the lungs and
require oxygen therapy
• Sepsis
• Caused 6% of neonatal deaths worldwide in 2008
• Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC)
• Condition in premature infants in which the intestines lack
oxygen or blood flow
• Occurs in 5-15% of premature infants and results in death 49%
of the time
• Anemia
• Virtually all premature infants become anemic early in life and
approximately 90% of those will receive one or more blood
transfusions

13. Research Areas Continued
• Birth asphyxia
• Characterized by brain injury due to lack of oxygen
shortly after birth
• Caused 9% of neonatal deaths worldwide in 2008
• Survivors will likely develop long term disabilities
such as:
– Intellectual impairment
– Cerebral palsy
– Epilepsy
• Congenital anomalies
• Caused 3% of neonatal deaths worldwide in 2008
• Reducing neonatal morbidities

14. Ethical Issues
• Nurses face ethical issues in their jobs no matter
what specialty they choose and neonatal
intensive care nurses are no exception.
• A few ethical questions in neonatal care include:
• Who deserves access to neonatal specialty care and who
should pay for this care?
• Are the costs of neonatal intensive care acceptable?
• Are some babies too sick or too premature for newborn
intensive care?
• What outcomes of neonatal care are too burdensome?
• Who decides whether and infant receives care?
• How are all of these decisions made?

15. Ethical Issues Continued
• These questions reflect the values of
healthcare professionals, patients, and
families.
• The nurse has a responsibility to recognize
these ethical questions because failing to do
so would also mean failing to recognize the
influence that they have in patient care.

16. Personal Statement
Neonatal intensive care nurses are the voice of
the smallest and sickest patients who don’t have
one of their own. I love working with infants and
children and I look forward to embracing new
challenges and continuing to learn everyday.
Because of this, I believe that neonatal intensive
care is the nursing specialty in which I belong. I
am excited to complete nursing school so I can
begin my career as a NICU nurse and
experience all of the challenges and rewards
the specialty brings.

17. References
About us. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.awhonn.org/?page=AboutUs
Anonymous. (n.d.). Baby blue bottle clip art. Retrieved from http://www.clker.com/clipart-baby-blue-bottle-2.html
Anonymous. (n.d.). Blue baby pacifier. Retrieved from http://www.easyfreeclipart.com/baby-boy-free-clipart.html
Carter, B. S. (2015, January 16). Ethical issues in neonatal care. Retrieved from http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/978997-
overview#showall
Education. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.awhonn.org/?Education
Is a career in neonatal nursing right for you? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://nann.org/professional-development/what-is-neonatal-nursing
NANN code of ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://nann.org/about/code-of-ethics
Neonatal research network. (2014, September 8). Retrieved from https://www.nichd.nih.gov/research/supported/Pages/nrn.aspx
Position statements. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.awhonn.org/?page=PositionStatements
Understanding NICU levels. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://rockymountainhospitalforchildren.com/service/neonatal-intensive-care-unit-levels

18. References
References can also be found on attached
word document.