by ws582

I graduated from nursing school this past December and am looking for ways to stand out as a candidate for a NICU position. I've heard getting NRP certification can help, so I am working on that, but I was also trying to find ways of making contacts in the specialty. My nursing professor thought joining AWHONN might help. I was curious how many NICU nurses belong to this organization and if you thought it might help. Thank you

Re: AWHONN members?

I'd go for a NANN membership. Your unit usually provides you with the NRP course.

Re: AWHONN members?

If you are going to do mother/baby, then AWHONN membership is more suited. However, if you're looking for NICU jobs, I'd join NANN.

Re: AWHONN members?

I agree with the other posters about joining NANN (National Association of Neonatal Nurses) www.nann.org and also ANN (Academy of Neonatal Nursing (www.academyonline.org. Both of these are for NICU nurses and both memberships come with many bonuses such as discounts on conferences, continuing education, books, and both have excellent journals which come every other month. For me, the journals have been incredibly helpful as I have learned about neonatal nursing. The books they recommend are terrific and I have nearly all of them. NANN has position statements, family teaching toolbox information and loads of other things to help you care for patients and their families. AWHONN is a truly fine organization; however, it is very much more geared toward mothers and healthy newborns or late preterm newborn care. If you are going to be on a Mother-Baby Unit or OB, go for AWHONN; If you are going to work in a NICU go for NANN and/or ANN.

By the way, once you are hired by a NICU they will teach you the NRP skills as part of your orientation. It wouldn't be a bad idea to go ahead and order the book and read it to help be prepared ahead of time. You can order it on Amazon. The CD ROM that comes with it is awesome!!! Please don't be offended by what I am about to say about the misuse of the term "certification" when people talk about NRP. No one is "certified in NRP", instead you "have completed the NRP program". When you read the book you will understand this better; you will see that they never use the term "certification"in the book because true "certification" is a whole different animal...

Good luck in your career! It's great that you are interested in learning all you can and want to go the extra mile. You'll find out that you will keep learning your entire career. I've been at this 20 years and still learn something every day, thankfully!

Re: AWHONN members?

I agree with the others---go with the Academy of Neonatal Nursing (ANN) or National Assoiciation of Neonatal Nurses (NANN). Besides taking a NRP course, you might want to think about a STABLE course as well. Good Luck!