working with newborns

[Emilytardy]

Hello my name is Emily, I always had a lot of trouble trying to figure out what I wanted to do for a career. After having 2 babies of my own I realized I wanted to work with newborns ( it was either work with babies or have more babies ). So my question is what do I need to do to work in a hospital nursery with newborns? I have been told that you must be a rn, is that true? I live in California just in case it makes a difference.

[labordude, BSN, RN]

Emily,

It truly depends on what role you want to play. If you want to be a Nursery nurse, then you need to be an RN. There are also many places that hire nursing assistants in the nursery as well as unit coordinators, techs and other roles. A lot of people who want to be nurses in a specific unit find it helpful working as a nursing assistant in the unit before hand.

Mike