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What does a typical day look like for a neonatal nurse

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Kimberly’s Answer

NICU units are very busy and each day is different. These tiny patients can throw you off your game at any time! NICU units are usually divided into levels depending on the acuity of the patient (Level I/II/III/IV). Level I/II are usually what we call "feeder growers" which means babies that are still growing and learning to drink on their own from a bottle. These patients may have feeding tubes, oxygen via nasal cannula and are a lower level of care. Level III/IV are the sickest patients that may require oxygen via ventilator, have central lines to the heart or umbilical cord and require a lot of care. A NICU nurse will start off the day getting report about the assigned patients from the previous nurse and learning about their needs for the day/night. Day units are much busier due to the amount of people in and out (doctors, parents, feeding therapists, lactation consultants). Nights are where the real fun begins and your babies will likely go crazy with less staff on hand. Just the nature of the game on any unit. Once report is finished, these tiny beings are all yours. You will organize your day according to care and feedings. Babies need to eat every 3 hours so you will be touching each patient accordingly. Patients are kept on a strict schedule in order to avoid stimulating a sleeping or sick baby unnecessarily Depending on acuity, the nurse patient ratio may be up to 1:4. With four patients, I schedule my day depending on the feeding schedule. I will mostly like have 2 patients that eat at 8-11-2-5 and 2 patients that eat at 9-12-3-6. I will start my care at 7:30 with a nursing assessment, checking alarms and equipment and providing care to the baby. Night nurses usually provide a bath and weight. You will give any medications scheduled at this time, change diapers and begin feeding the baby. Babies that are fed by tubes will do so in their isolette/crib but those by mouth may take up to 30 minutes to finish their feeding through bottle. You will provide all care needed for one patient before moving on to the next and repeating this cycle for each patient 4 times per shift. Level III/IV patients may be receiving all nutrition via intravenous lines and do not take any feedings by tube or mouth. These patients usually require a lot of standing by beside to keep them stable. They will have a lot of lines, oxygen equipment, medications, procedures, lab work and a watchful eye. Hope that helps to get an idea of what a NICU nurses day/night looks like!
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Eldredge, Bethany’s Answer

Very busy depending on your unit! These patients have a lot of needs and it tends to be a very fast-paced environment that requires good time management and critical thinking skills. You will usually have 1-3 patients. normally 12 hour shifts.
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Marie’s Answer

I posted this on another question and think if fits well with your question.
The day to day life of a nurse varies depending on where you work. In the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) , you start by getting coffee, needed to start report. The you should get a through report about all of you patients, that could be between 1 and 3.
After report you take your (brain) report sheet and plan your day. The time is on sheet and you write each task into time slot it needs to be completed. You will have feedings, labs ,medications, IV checks and blood gases to name a few. In-between all these task you have to assess and reassess your patients for subtle changes in physical exam.
Try to fit pee breaks and lunch into busy day. A life in the day of a NICU nurse is challenging, stressful, emotional and highly rewarding. As I said earlier the day will vary based on where you .
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