Senior in high school and plan on being a neonatal nurse.. NEED ADVICE!

MemphisTiger · Oct 8, 2008

Why would you go to medical school? You don't need to go to medical school to be a nurse.

I know the private practice group I work with is giving full scholarships for current neo-natal nurses to attain their msn with a neonatal nurse practitioner certificate. So I know it's a field that has demand.

woknblues · Oct 10, 2008

Im a senior in high school and plan on attending college to be a nurse. Off and on ever since i was little i have wanted to be a nurse and work with new borns. I have heard that it is one of the more difficult fields of nursing, but I feel that it is my calling. As of right now, my plan is to attend a 2 year school to get my RN then contiune on at a medical school after that. I will be getting my CNA in the spring before then and also starting volunteer work at a nearby hospital hopefully sometime soon. What else could i do to prepare myself for the future and my goal of becoming a neonatal nurse?
What can you tell me about this specific field of nursing?
Thank you!

I will address your questions first:

What else could i do to prepare myself for the future and my goal of becoming a neonatal nurse?

Find a neonatal nurse and interview them. Lurk on these forums under the specific forum. https://allnurses.com/forums/f33/

Your formal nursing education initially will not really be specific, there are no BSNICUs out there. You will gain some clinical experience there hopefully, but along with the other specifi wards as well, (OR/ER/PSYCH/etc) It more or less prepares you for the NCLEX, to become and RN. After that, most learn their trade on a med-surg ward, a "catch all" type of position where you get lots of patients, and lots of different experiences. After some time, nurses get exposed to different patients and job specific skills, and often specialize. This would likely be your real entry point to neonatal nursing, at least a few years from your start of post secondary school, and whether you want ADN or BSN.

What can you tell me about this specific field of nursing?

I am no expert on neonatal nursing, but like all nursing, each job, each role, and each client is amazingly different and unique. I can also say from talking to people that to "Love kids" better not be the only reason you are getting into it. (not saying that you did by the way)That goes for any job/career/profession you take on.

Your CNA idea is a smart start. For such a short course, it really opens the door to nursing in a practical way. I am a BSN entry, and it must be comical for "old hands" to see a person with 10+ semesters (including summers) like me to scratch me head when confronted with routine stuff like foley cath insertions, etc. Also, learning "the language", and what to expect is certainly an advantage in this dynamic field.

To address your goal of persuing medical school, I might suggest that you consider what you really want to do before you spend thousands of hours (and dollars) in the wrong direction.

Yes, great nurses have made great doctors (and less frequently, vice-versa), but the reality is that the time, dedication and skills to get really good at one, are not always compatible with entry to the other. They are quite different. There is no small coincidence that patients outcomes are improved by incorporating nursing AND medicine as complimentary, but different forms of patient management. Many people errantly think that nursing is a subset of medicine, and it really is not. Nor is nursing the quintessiential stepping stone to medicine.

Hope this helped.