role of nurse tech in nursery?

[SNB1014, RN]

Hello,

I am applying within the next few days to 3 nurse tech positions at my regional med center on the newborn nursery & nicu units.

I am currently an RN student. What duties does the nursery tech perform that may/may not be different from a med/surg floor? What are the characteristics that you desire when working with a tech in this population?

How extensive and specific should be knowledge already be about the newborn population?

Thank you for any and all help!

[anzean_rn]

We just recently had a tech that transferred from a med-surg floor to our NICU. She said she couldn't believe how much slower it was. She went from being responsible for many of the vitals, blood sugars, and baths on the unit to having the nurses do most all of those things with the babies.

Her main responsibilities are to stock the supply carts, bring around clean linen, do the set-ups for admissions and anything else we might need from her if she isn't busy. Sometimes its just holding a crying baby if we don't have time.

Our best techs don't just ask "do you need anything?" but anticipate our needs and help without being asked. For example, one of the techs started mixing my baby's formula for me while I did an assessment without being asked and I really appreciated that.

Good luck!

[NPinWCH]

We didn't have a NICU, but in our level 1 nursery the techs would feed, change, weigh and bathe babies. They also did VS and setup/clean up for procedures such as circs. They cleaned equipment after use, gathered supplies and helped calm fussy babies. They also transported babes from nursery to mom and back as well.

Our techs all went through NRP, and would assist during delieveries. There they would dry and stimulate baby, get weight and measurements, do footprints and apply ID bands. If more steps of NRP were needed they usually were in charge of getting supplies or bagging until RT/more help arrived.

I agree, asking "Do you need anything" or "Can I help" is a great way to be helpful. Also, learn all you can and don't be afraid to ask questions.

[ajb96278]

From my experience in my preceptorship, the techs were allowed to be in the nursery if there was not enough nurses that night for one to be in there too. Weights, feedings, diaper changes, and in this particular facility circumcisions were all things the tech did and helped with (in the case of the circumcision).

[sourapril]

lots of different tasks:

feed, bathe, change diapers, check vitals, stock linens, supplies, draw blood (for newborn screening etc), i guess it's not technically difficult, but if you know you want to work with newborns for sure, then it's a good place to start, otherwise it's kinda limited in terms of what nursing skills you use.

I have good and bad days, it's not always slow, babies can be overwhelming, sometimes you don't know why they wouldn't stop crying and that's frustrating. Sometimes you got 10 babies and they all decide to poop, pee and get hungry at the same time, and that's frustrating too because you only have 2 hands.