What Is A Neonatal Nurse (NICU)?
Neonatal ICU is an intensive care unit for newborn babies. This is where a neonatal nurse (NICU) will work. There are a number of things that can go wrong in the first hours and days of life, and it will be your responsibility to work towards ensuring that the babies in your care are taken care of as well as possible and are protected from the various germs and illnesses that they are vulnerable to.
Nature Of The Work/duties
The duties and nature of work of a neonatal nurse can be divided into three categories:
- Level 1: At this level your job will entail seeing to the needs of newborn babies that are healthy and safe as they also need basic attention in the first days of life.
- Level 2: If you work at this level as a neonatal nurse, you will be responsible for the care of premature babies as well as for any on-time babies who get sick for some reason in the first few hours and days of life.
- Level 3: This is the most intensive level as here you will be responsible for anything that is severely wrong with a newborn baby. Consequently you may struggle to keep your cool, especially when a baby is lost.
Employment
Neonatal nurses are generally employed in hospitals or maternity homes. Clearly they have to be somewhere where they can assist in the care of small babies. As a neonatal nurse you can choose to work in either:
- Neonatal intensive care units, or
- Mother-baby or newborn nurseries taking care of healthy newborns
Healthy newborns require care and attention as well in order to ensure that they stay healthy and that their wellbeing is not compromised in any way. Usually you will be trained to work in both of these settings and you should have no trouble finding employment as a neonatal nurse if you have the basic experience under your belt. The one concern regarding neonatal employment is that it is a very narrow field with a lot of competition.
Neonatal Nurse (NICU) Requirements
The entry level qualifications for a position like this vary from institution to institution. That means that you will need to find out form the particular institute that you would like to work at what their neonatal nurse (NICU) qualifications are. Some requirements may be as follows, although there are no set specifications:
- Some hospitals or medical centers require one year of adult health or medical surgical nursing
- Other units hire RNs straight after graduation or passing a state board of nursing (NCLEX) exam
- Many institutions require no previous experience (while others have set expectations in this regard)
A big factor that affects this is whether there are plenty of positions and few neonatal nurses to fill them and vice versa. As compared to other specialties the requirements for being a neonatal nurse are not bad.
Personality Traits
There are a number of essential personality skills that are required for this line of work. Firstly you will need to have excellent people skills as you will work with people every day from many different areas of life, such as patients, the families of the patients, and your colleagues and other medical professionals within the healthcare setting. This also involves having empathy with patients and their family. You should also have a clear and intelligent understanding of the needs of newborns that is not clouded by your emotions. Of course having technical competence in the area of neonatal nursing is a prerequisite, as is the ability to work well with a team. The last two essential skills are excellent and quick critical thinking skills and an ability to work under pressure.
Educational Requirements
There is no special education required in order to be a neonatal nurse. However there are electives that you can take that will help you. At the absolute minimum you need to have an RN license. The two more popular RN qualifications are:
- The bachelor’s degree, which takes two years to complete
- The associate’s degree, which takes four years to complete
You then need to get some experience in neonatal nursing (the National Association of Neonatal Nurses recommends two years). Once you have done this you are in a position to consider going to graduate school to become:
- A neonatal nurse practitioner, or
- A clinical nurse specialist
Once you have an RN qualification there are many doors open to you, and neonatal care is just one of them.
Licensure
Becoming licensed in this line of work requires that you have:
- An RN license
- An advanced nurse practitioner license
Both of these licenses are necessary to practice as a neonatal nurse, and both them will require you to do periodic bouts of continuing education in order to maintain your license. When someone works with babies it is important that they know what they are doing and that they are able demonstrate that knowledge adequately. Hence, why they need the license. The requirements for an advanced nurse practitioner license may vary from state to state, so it is your responsibility to find out what exactly you will have to do in your particular state in order to receive the licensing that you require to work as a nurse that specializes in neonatal care.
How To Become A Neonatal Nurse (NICU)
Training, Advancement And Other Qualifications
There are some basic steps that you can follow in order to receive the correct level of training for this specialty:
- Enroll and finish an accredited registered nursing program – if the program is not accredited you will be wasting your time and money.
- Take the NCLEX-RN
- Make sure you have Acute Care, and ER or ICU experience – different states will require a differing number of years of experience in these areas.
- Work toward a two year hands-on nurse training in neonatal care – different states will require a differing number of years of experience in these areas.
- Focus your continuing education in neonatal care and pediatrics – after you have received your licensed to practice as a neonatal nurse you will need to maintain your license by doing continuing education in this subject.
Source An Accredited Education Program
It is very important that you only attend RN training programs that are accredited. If it is not accredited by the necessary body you will not be able to get your RN license, and consequently you will be unable to become licensed as a neonatal nurse. There are three reliable ways to check that a program is accredited:
- Get a list of accredited programs form your state board of nursing.
- Find out from the school itself if it is accredited, and then check this with the state board of nursing.
- Attend a school that a friend attended who successfully passed the exam and became licensed. If she became an RN thought the program, it was an accredited program or else she would not have received permission from the state board to write her exam.
Earn Your Associate’s Degree
To be a neonatal nurse you have, at the very least, to have an associate’s degree in nursing, which will allow you to write the NCLEX-RN exam and become a registered nurse. Contact your state board of nursing to find schools in your area as they are the most reliable source of information on this subject. Getting your associate’s degree will require a lot of hard work and patience and you will not necessarily find it to be easy. It will also take a long time, about two years, for you to complete your qualification and become a nurse that has an RN certification. The topics covered with be presented in theory and clinical format and both sides of the course are necessary in order to complete your degree.
Obtain Your Licensure
Becoming licensed in this line of work requires that you have:
- An RN license
- An advanced nurse practitioner license
The exact licensing requirements involved could well differ from state to state, just like everything else related to nursing. It is you responsibility to find out form your state’s board of nursing exactly what the requirements are. The following licensing requirements tend to be fairly standard form state to state with a few unconventional and very minor exceptions in certain parts of the United States:
- You will probably need to be a graduate from an accredited master’s program
- You will probably need to have a registered nurse license
- You will probably need to have national certification
- Some states do mandate continuing education coursework to renew a license
Online/Distance Education Programs
It is impossible to complete an RN qualification entirely online. If you come across a training program that claims to offer this, treat it with suspicion. Do not enroll in that program. To be an RN you have to complete a training course that includes:
- Theory work
- Clinical work
The second has to be done in a hands-on setting, and therefore it cannot be completed online. There are ways to balance online theory learning with clinical practice. These ways are a viable option, and you should give it a try if it is a possibility for you. However this can also be a lot more complicated and could take a lot of time. This is especially true when you have to source a location to do your clinical work yourself.
Neonatal Nurse (NICU) Job Outlook
The job outlook for this nursing position is expected to increase until the year 2014: This is:
- Due to an increase in fertility treatments
- Due to an increase in multiple births
- Due to an increase in premature births
What this means for you is that it is a stable profession to get involved in right now. There is an increasing demand for nurses with these skills, which means that you will always have a job somewhere. While other industries are inclined to be affected by economic hardships, the health care industry is one that will always be necessary and that will always exist, which means that you can be sure of employment as a neonatal nurse at all times. The salary is a fairly good one. When you consider the salary alongside the stability of the job you will see that this is one of the better nursing specialties to choose.
Neonatal Nurse (NICU) Earnings
Depending on the degree of your experience you can earn between about $50,000 and $70,000 a year as a neonatal nurse (NICU). This is not a bad salary at all. This line of work is, however, popular with people who feel that nursing babies is the best place to be. Consequently there may be a lot of competition for the position. In addition you may find that different states pay better than others as there are a number of state requirements that govern nursing and these are never the same from state to state. Doing adequate research on the topic is necessary if you want to make the best decisions possible about where you are going to work as a neonatal nurse (NICU) in the future.
Although this is not an option for LPN nurses, LPNs do have the opportunity to become RNs with just a little more education. And once you are a RN there is a host of specialty qualifications that you can work towards. A love for small babies is necessary, but it is not a good idea to enter this line of work if you are unable to handle the death of a child because in this line of work children die all the time. NICU is an especially traumatizing place to work, and nurses here will have to learn to balance compassion with a sense of objectivity that allows them to do their job well.
