Neonatal Nursing Job Description
Neonatal Nurses are Nurses who care for infants under 28 days old, specifically the newborns who require extra medical attention. Typical medical situations that require special care from Neonatal Nurses are newborns who have been born prematurely, struggle with breathing, need surgery, suffer from complications that require intensive medical care, have deformities, and much more.
Typical Neonatal Nursing duties include the following:
- Changing feeding tubes
- Operating monitoring devices
- Administering medication
- Performing incubations
- Hold and rock babies
- Feed babies from bottles
- Change diapers
- Provide social, emotional, and physical interaction for infant
There are four levels of Neonatal Nurseries where Nurses will find themselves working:
Level I: These Nurseries care for healthy newborn infants. Level I Nurseries are uncommon, while healthy infants typically share a room with their mother. Both are typically discharged quickly.
Level II: These Nurseries provide special care for sick newborns. These sick infants often require special therapy by a Nursing staff. Oftentimes, these infants only need a bit more time before being discharged.
Level III: The NICU (Neonatal intensive-care unit) treats newborns who need extensive technology in order to survive, such as breathing or feeding tubes.
Level IV: These Nurseries are similar to level III, except they involve heightened care for newborns. The Nursery has 24-hour neonatologists and surgeons. Detailed surgical procedures are often performed here.
