Desperately need info from a current neonatal nurse.

[Froofy]

I desperately need information concerning a career in neonatal nursing. I've been searching everywhere for answers to my questions, but I can't seem to find them anywhere.

1.What traits do you think a person should have if they decide to become a neonatal nurse?

2. What is the average salary of a neonatal nurse?

3. How long do you have to go to schoo to become a neonatal nurse?

4. What type of schools do you have to attend to become a neonatal nurse?

5. What programs do you enroll in?

I would greatly appreciate it if someone could help. :redbeathe

[preemieRNkate, RN]

I desperately need information concerning a career in neonatal nursing. I've been searching everywhere for answers to my questions, but I can't seem to find them anywhere.

1.What traits do you think a person should have if they decide to become a neonatal nurse?

2. What is the average salary of a neonatal nurse?

3. How long do you have to go to schoo to become a neonatal nurse?

4. What type of schools do you have to attend to become a neonatal nurse?

5. What programs do you enroll in?

I would greatly appreciate it if someone could help. :redbeathe

There have been threads on this board before like this, but since I'm trying to stay up for a little while longer so I can go out to breakfast, I'll answer!

1. Personally, I think my personality at work is slightly OCD. I tend to be protective of "my" babies (they can't speak for themselves, so they need someone to advocate for them!). I like the fast-paced atmosphere that an ICU tends to be. I am flexible, if I need to admit a new baby or go out on transport, I have to be able to prioritize and delegate tasks.

2. The salary depends on where you work. Certain areas of the country are higher paid than others. Also, it depends if you work in a private hospital or a county or state run hospital. Some places pay ICU nurses more (not where I work though). There is also shift differentials, the night shift tends to pay more than the day shift. Try looking at Advance for Nurses, they do a salary survey every year and break it down by region.

3. There are a few different options for earning a degree in nursing. I would say the majority of my coworkers have either gone through an associate program or a bachelor program. This answers question #4 as well. You need to attend a college with a nursing program to earn a degree in nursing. There are no special schools for neonatal nursing.

5. In order to earn a degree in nursing, you must enroll in whatever classes are required by the college. The classes I took include basic liberal arts type (like English, some math, sociology, psychology) as well as science classes like chemistry, anatomy and physiology, microbiology. I also had to take the nursing classes. Try looking at some college websites, they usually have the classes required for the nursing program.

Hope that helped, I'm off to breakfast!

[hikernurse]

I desperately need information concerning a career in neonatal nursing. I've been searching everywhere for answers to my questions, but I can't seem to find them anywhere.

1.What traits do you think a person should have if they decide to become a neonatal nurse?

2. What is the average salary of a neonatal nurse?

3. How long do you have to go to schoo to become a neonatal nurse?

4. What type of schools do you have to attend to become a neonatal nurse?

5. What programs do you enroll in?

I would greatly appreciate it if someone could help. :redbeathe

Kate pretty much covered it :). Here's my , if you're interested.

1. Definitely OCD tendencies. Babies can turn on a dime. The happy, stable baby who has done fine all shift will suddenly need a code called. You need to be observant and watch for what can be very subtle signs.

The patients might not talk back (not a bad thing in my book ), but there are parents/staff/many therapists/MDs/etc. around and communication skills need to be strong. You are the voice for the patient and you are the one who needs to say the patient is in pain, let's find a solution or this therapy has been working very well, but not so much this one. The NNP (Neonatal Nurse Practitioneers) and MDs depend on you to be the eyes and ears for them for the patient. You will also be spending most of your shift with at least one other nurse close. I think it's great to have another nurse to bounce ideas off on and to talk with at 0300, but some people aren't comfortable with that and those nurses don't usually last long on the unit.

2. NICU nurses start at the same salary as other new grads in my area. Because we have so many classes and information to learn, we do tend to get raises more often.

3-5. I went to an ADN school and started at the NICU right after graduation. We have a lot of Associate Degree nurses, but also a lot of BSN (not as many, though) nurses on our floor. We are encouraged to get additional education as we work and management is great about facilitating it, but to start, an RN is fine. We don't have LPNs on our unit and Techs don't do any patient care.

Good luck. These babies are great patients to work with .

[WDWpixieRN, RN]

One great site to get career and education info from is:

http://www.discovernursing.com

Loads of info there, too!! Best wishes!!