LoveTheNICU

Working as a Neonatal NP in a level 4 NICU, I've had several... But one of the worst by far was during my last pregnancy. Anyone in NICU can tell you that the worst time of our own pregnancies are 23-25 weeks, when the parents are given an option to ...

Dr. Leak- Urologist!!!

As a newer NNP, I came into a practice where the "more experienced" NNPs tended to restrain the infants hand and foot and give sucrose for PICC insertions. A few of the newer girls and I have adopted an approach that includes swaddling the infant wit...

I don't think the results are in yet, as she was still working on the research this spring and with the time between research and publishing, I can't imagine we will see them any time soon. However, her name is Karen D'Apolito, and she has been publi...

Spacey, I will see about getting some contact information for you- if she doesn't mind, of course- and getting better answers for your questions if at all possible. I don't know if I will have a chance to do so this week, as our NICU reunion picnic i...

We do have a designated support person, who has been working for our unit just over two years on a grant-type arrangement. She has a social work/counseling background of some sort, but is not a practicing social worker. She conducts support groups an...

All the way back to your original question- I think the reason you may see NNP positions listed as "MSN preferred" is because not so long ago, you could become an NNP as a certificate-type program if you were a BSN prepared RN. There was definitely ...

I would think along the lines of a "risk for" diagnosis if you cannot find anything in his assessment to support a problem. Or if you feel mom is not understanding the infant's true condition, what about an education/knowledge diagnosis? Think it thr...

This is one of those questions that plauges the NICU, so it's completely normal to be confused by this! The overriding thing that I try to remember in this situation is that in GENERAL, too much oxygen is much more harmful than too little, especially...

I don't know the weights of the babies at this point, but in my NICU, we follow a protocol that any baby less than 1500g has an OG regardless of NC or CPAP. This is based on research regarding nasal/sinus deformities in VLBW kids and the whole "oblig...

The problem with the "risk for pulmonary embolism" diagnosis is that it is not actually a nursing diagnosis. But you are on the right track. What nursing diagnosis would a pulmonary embolism cause?

As an NICU nurse, I just wanted to leave a quick note to say THANKS for the little extras you do to support these mothers! They most certainly need caring and supportive nurses throughout their postpartum experience. I know that your units are often ...

When I think about PPHN, it helps me to think about it's other name- persistent fetal circulation- because that really does describe what is going on. In utero, the baby's blood supply comes in through their umbilical vein, up to their right atrium, ...

I am working on finishing my NNP, and one of my professors is very heavily involved in a study right now that is comparing the effects of buprenorphine and methadone. They have studied over 800 infants born to mothers whose addiction was either treat...

We most certainly do have rehab people involved in our NICU. Physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech/language pathologists all are involved in the care of some of our infants. Specifically, speech language pathologists come to work on feedi...

Our NNPs have recently started putting these dual lumen PICCs in some of our larger babies- not sure why they are choosing just the bigger ones, I haven't seen P/P on them at all yet. Mostly, they are wonderful, in that you don't have to stop your TP...

RainDreamer, It's so funny that you posted this today because I was having EXACTLY the same thoughts at work the other night. I have been an RN in NICU for a year now, and I was an extern for a year before that, but I still often feel like one of t...

As a newbie- only one year out myself- my advice is to watch or try ANYTHING and EVERYTHING they will let you get your hands on! If something is happening in the unit, ask to be allowed to observe or participate in any way possible. Ask lots of quest...

We change ours q72 hours, just like our standard clear fluid tubings. That way, if the kiddo is not on TPN, the entire set can be changed all together every three days, and prevent frequent breaking into the line. The only "clear" solutions/meds and...

In my NICU, we run Amp over 5-10 minutes on a syringe pump, followed by a flush over 5 minutes. If the volume is less than 1 ml, some nurses will push the med very slowly and and run a flush over 5-10 minutes. Claforan (cefotaxime) we run over 10 min...

We just switched within the last year, and now use a 30g, 5/8in needle for all our IM injections. Prior to that we used a 25g needle of the same length. While I like the new needles for our micropreemies and such, I have had a few incidences (as well...

Here Rachel... Good luck on your paper! 1. What is your job title? RN, Staff nurse in neonatal (newborn) intensive care 2. How long have you held this position? 3. What formal training is required for this job? Well, I have a BSN (a bachelors degre...

In my experience, any lab values that appeared on the NCLEX (and they were few) were GLARINGLY wrong... for instance, a Hct of 12 or something, not in a gray area close to the recommended range. Keeping that in mind, the slight differences in values ...

So, I am getting very close to the end of my orientation- 1 more day before they cut me loose on my own. My orientation has been fantastic, I have had lots of interesting and varied diagnoses to take care of in the unit (we are Level III, ECMO capabl...

I don't work in the Chicagoland area, but feel free to PM me and I'll give you some info! Good luck to you with your program...