Basic roles of a nurse in the NICU

[jbreite]

I am a beginning nursing student, and so many of my professors keep saying to think about what area of nursing we want to go in. I am very interested in the NICU, and I am just curious as to what exactly a nurse in this ward does. Along with that, what special skills must a nurse in this ward have?

[karnicurnc, MSN, APRN, CNS]

I suggest you do a job shadow and see exactly what we do day to day. Telling you what the job entails is nothing like seeing it and doing it in person. Good luck!

[LucyNICU]

Here is a basic overview of what I do in the Level II portion of my NICU everyday:

First, I get report from the off going nurse. When she/he is done, I go through my medications and make sure I know all the correct med administration times. Then, I get started on my care. In our unit we take vital signs every 4 hours. I start on my first baby, getting HR, respirations, blood pressure, abdominal girth, etc. I do a full head to toe assessment of the baby, noting any changes I may need to bring up to the doctor or practitioners. I change his/her diaper, change his/her clothes and bedding and feed him or her. If he has any medications due at this time, I administer them. I sit down and feed them. I do this for all of my babies in the morning. As the day goes on, I relate information to the practitioners/docs about what needs to/should be done for the babies. Parents come in and call, and I attend to them as if they were patients as well. I answer any questions they may have and encourage interaction with their babies by encouraging breast feeding, and by having them do diaper changes, etc.

At a very basic level, my responsibilities are assessing the babies for any changes, administering meds, and feeding them. There is a lot more that comes with the job but those are just the foundations of being a NICU nurse.

[babyNP., APRN]

Basic role: I take care of sick babies