Strong, Generous, Supportive: My Journey to NICU nursing
It is a place filled with babies but the robust cries normally present in a nursery are muffled by the sounds of alarms, monitors, and concerned parents. A world in itself completely focused on saving lives. My dream is to be a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) nurse because I desire to provide critical care and communication skills, along with emotional understanding and stability to the tiniest humans, and their parents. This is a place filled with doctors and nurses focused on life giving techniques that fight to help their patients reach optimal health and developmental milestones like breathing and taking bottles on their own. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to work
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I don’t have an answer for that other than I’m doing it for something that is bigger than myself, and because I want to save lives. “Even though there has been more heartache than I care to remember, the success stories make every single minute of my shifts worthwhile.” “NICU Nurse Stories – Heartbreaks and Triumphs of Caring for Premature Babies.” Nurse.org, nurse.org/articles/NICU-Stories-Premature-Babies/. Accessed 21 Sept. 2017. A NICU nurse is there primarily to give care to the infants, but due to the poor health of the babies, it can create anxiety, stress, depression, and fatigue for the families. I want to help fight for those babies, but I also want to provide support and love for families that are walking in a complete nightmare, one they never dreamed they would be living. I think the most important quality for a NICU nurse is thorough knowledge, or the drive to obtain more. I want to share knowledge with parents to make it easier for them to learn and know everything they can about their child’s medical condition. I can help translate between the parents and the doctor’s medical jargon to make parents feel more as ease and understand their
I want to be a neonatal nurse practitioner, the reason I want to become a neonatal nurse is because I have a real soft spot for baby. To be a neonatal nurse you have to give special attention to all type of babies. You have to focuses on taking care of ill or newborn infants. You don’t just have to work with infants you will have to work with the family members. I will be able to get close to family member and inform them how the infant is doing and is wrong with the baby.
Nurses play a big role in supporting the parents while their child is in the NICU. Showing compassion and demonstrating caring actions when caring for the patient makes it more likely that the parents will trust the nurse and the information the nurse gives them regarding their child’s condition. This trust is important as it helps the parents feel confident in the decisions they are making about their child’s care. When the parents of an ill child in the NICU have decided to terminate treatment palliative care by the nurse and other healthcare providers comes into play. Palliative care is keeping the child comfortable by treating the symptoms and being there for the parents and child physically, emotionally, and spiritually (Eden & Callister, 2010).
“Nurses don’t wait until October to celebrate Make a Difference Day — they make a difference every day”, explains an unknown author. My main source of inspiration to become a nurse comes from an innate desire to help people and care for them in times of need. I am also a person who thrives on being challenged and I always have new goals to achieve, so nursing suits me as few other careers offer as much diversity and learning opportunities so, attending Virginia Commonwealth University is something that has been my desire for the longest. The intentions that I have for when I become a nurse practitioner are to aid and care for the sick, as well as I am able but also to assist doctors and staff as well as I am capable.
Neonatal nursing is a field of nursing designed especially for both newborns and infants up to 28 days old. The term neonatal comes from neo, "new", and natal, "pertaining to birth or origin”. Neonatal nurses are a vital part of the neonatal care team. These are trained professionals who concentrate on ensuring that the newborn infants under their care are able to survive whatever potential life threatening event they encounter. They treat infants that are born with a variety of life threatening issues that include instances of prematurity, congenital birth defects, surgery related problems, cardiac malformations, severe burns, or acute infection. Neonatal care in hospitals was always done by the nursing staff but it did not officially become a specialized medical field until well into 1960s. This was due to the numerous advancements in both medical care training and related technology that allowed for the improved treatment and survival rate of premature babies. According to the March of Dimes, one of every thirteen babies born in the United States annually suffers from low birth weight. This is a leading cause in 65% of infant deaths. Therefore, nurses play a very important role in providing round the clock care for these infants, those born with birth defects or other life threatening illness. In addition, these nurses also tend to healthy babies while their mothers recover from the birthing process. Prior to the advent of this specialized nursing field at risk newborn infants were mostly cared for by obstetricians and midwives who had limited resources to help them survive (Meeks 3).
The major career I’m interested is a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner. They are professional registered nurse with clinical experience in neonatal nursing and also received formal education with supervised clinical experience. This type of nurse involve in the management of sick new-borns and their families. NNP’s concern is to those new-borns that requires special cared due to low birth weight, respiratory distress, congenital heart defects or various other abnormalities and disorders.
Most neonatal nurses work in hospitals others may have positions in home care or follow ups of infants. When you work in the hospital, it can be very hectic but if it’s really what you want to do, you will do it.
Providing the assistance and showing love for others on a daily basis; is the best way to show people you appreciate and care for them. Accordingly, my dream career (a Registered nurse) is specialized to work in many different areas in the nursing field. Emotional stability, compassion, and caring attributes are very important, often time nurses’ deal with stresses including emergencies and human suffering. Being a Registered nurse you are required to
Like the general public, I assumed their only job was to aid doctors and perform routine medical procedures that they are trained to do. The purpose of this interview was to gain insight into how much more nurses do, and I was greatly surprised. Marks shared what it is really like to be a pediatric nurse, and all the other roles they must play in their patients’ lives. As someone who has never been admitted into a hospital, or have been in the care of a nurse, her stories were eye-opening for me. Marks gave me a new-found appreciation for all that nurses
The next time I walked into a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was as a fourth year medical student. This time not as a spectator, but as a medical professional expec...
Ever since I was a little girl, my motivation to pursue a career in the medical field was evident. While other children my age watched Cartoon Network, I found more value in shows like ‘Trauma: Life in the ER’ and ‘A Baby Story.’ It wasn’t until high school that I decided I would become a nurse, specifically. I cannot say that I had a revelation or a particular experience that swayed my decision. However, ever since I began pursuing the career of nursing, I discover each and every subsequent day that it is what I was put on this earth to do.
Nursing and Qualities That I Possess to become a Good Nurse Nursing is the act of safely caring, protecting and improving our clients’/patients’ health and ability without causing any further harm or disability to them. Our primary goal is to restore and maintain good health physically, spiritually and psychologically. It is a science, such that one has to apply the nursing knowledge and technical aspects of practice. However, it is important to incorporate the act of patient-centered care, which is defined according to QSEN/NOF, as holistic care that recognizes the patient as the source of control and full-partner in providing compassionate and coordinated care with respect for the patient’s desire, values, needs and preferences. It has to incorporate with the nurse’s personality, i.e., certain qualities that the individual possess.
I chose Neonatal Nurse Practitioner as a career because I love working with kids and helping others. Ever since I was in fifth grade I loved spending time/ babysitting with my baby cousins. My family always tells me I am compassionate and have a strong love for younger children. Oh the other hand, my sister and a few of my cousins are nurses on the labor and delivery floor, which has influenced me tremendously. I have always been curious to see what it is like to take care of our future generations. On a personal level, nursing appeals to me for many reasons, but some of the primary ones include the fulfillment of my life’s purpose and its family-friendly nature. In order to fully understand the relevance of Neonatal Nursing in today’s society, it is imperative to explore the benefits, background, programs, and
Caring for people is a prerequisite for becoming a nurse. This can often be effortless and second nature but then there are other times where caring for someone is not always the easiest thing to do. You see it in the frustrated mom of the two-year-old who is throwing a temper tantrum in Target. Or the nurse of a patient who presses his call light frequently for seemingly insignificant things. Caring takes patience. With nursing, in particular, you need to feel called to the profession. You need to feel as though nursing is something you desperately have to do. As if you would be disobeying or cheating if you did not become a nurse. This calling can come from many different places or people, but for me, it comes from the Holy Spirit. Throughout my life, I would get so excited going to the doctor’s office or the hospital. I longed to stay and discover parts of the hospital I had not had the pleasure of finding yet. I felt called to
To me, being a nurse requires a great sense of selflessness and courage to devote your time and being to helping others. Nurses work long hours and experience straining situations for the satisfaction and fulfillment of helping others. More specifically, experiencing life and death, as well as applying your full self--emotions, knowledge, courage, and strength--takes a toil on the mind and body, but the innate satisfaction, human connections, and experiences I would be able to live through prevails over any thought of stress. The quote “A nurse is one who opens the eyes of a newborn and gently closes the eyes of a dying man. It is indeed a high blessing to be the first and last to witness the beginning and end of life” further reflects
I have always wanted to become a nurse since I was a little girl, seeing both of my grandmothers working in a hospitals and always helping everyone in need. My goals in becoming a nurse is just the basic foundation of just helping people who physically cannot help themselves. I want to be able to shed light in people's lives who are losing it because of their situation. I feel as nurses is the backbone in the hospital. The nurses are there day in and day out with the patients, holding their hands and walking them and their families throughout such a difficult time. Nurses are also their supporting the doctors and all other staff. I’ve found especially in these past few years that I want to spend my life helping others and that's what I can