Neonatal nurses have one of the coolest jobs in the world. And one of the most stressful. Every day these nurses take care of newborn babies who are born with low birth weight, drug or alcohol addiction or other issues that require specialized care. They will care for these special needs babies up to 28 days after they have been born, feeding them, recording their vital signs every hour, taking their blood pressure and weight, and tracking how well they are eating and going to the bathroom. They even make sure that these babies receive the right amount of oxygen and medication to help them through those first critical days after birth.

Neonatal-nurse

All neonatal nurses work in the delivery wards of your local hospitals. There are three different levels of neonatal nurses. The first level are the nurses who deal with healthy babies who need very little extra care and commonly stay with their mothers until both a discharged a few days after birth.

Level two neonatal nurses work with babies that are premature or sick when they are born. They handle the day to day job of regulating the babies’ oxygen and medication as well as feeding. Premature and sick babies stay in the hospital until they are well or developed enough to safely leave.

Level three neonatal nurses work in what is known as the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU for short. These units can be found in larger hospitals and are common in the many children’s hospitals around the world. The babies in the NICU are too sick to leave the hospital and are usually there for the full 28 days of neonatal care. Often these babies are born very tiny, very sick or premature with other problems. Some of them may even need surgery. Level three babies are dependent of the experience of the nurses to help them fight for their lives.

Care of the babies is not the only thing neonatal nurses must handle on a day-to-day basis. They are also responsible for teaching the parents how to care for their fragile child. They will show the parents how to hold their babies, how to feed them and give them medication and how to care for them in other ways. A neonatal nurse has to have patience and compassion to deal with both their small charges and their parents.

A neonatal nurse must hold a degree from an accredited nursing institution and a Bachelors of Science in Nursing or the equivalent work experience. Some employers also require at least three years of work experience in the hospital environment. They need to demonstrate that they can work well under pressure and have a certification as a Neonatal Resuscitation Provider.

Neonatal nurse Salary

Currently, neonatal nurse salary ranges from $50,000 to $83,000 a year depending on the area they are working in. The average salary is $74,000. The field of neonatal nursing is expected to expand over the next ten years and there is a high demand for these specialized nurses.