Importance of Effective Neonatal Nursing

Importance of Effective Neonatal Nursing
Introduction
Neonatal nursing involves caring for newborn babies with problems; they are either sick
or premature. It also involves helping parents through the traumatic experiences.
Moreover, neonatal nursing involves assessing and monitoring for newborns who are
medically fragile. NICU nurses may care for premature of sick infants up to one year of
age. This presentation therefore describes the importance of effective communication in
neonatal nursing by highlighting how the neonatal nurse uses effective communication
with their scope of practice.
Tasks and Key Responsibilities of a Neonatal Nurse
The neonatal nurse performs life sustaining care to the newborn babies in the first one
month of their lives. Some children are born with problems which requires immediate
and prolonged medical care. The problems that the newborn infants may face include
birth defects, prematurity, infections, malfunctions of the cardiac and surgical problems.
The neonatal nurse also administers medications to the newborn babies with problems.
Depending on the nature of the sickness and issues affecting the wellbeing of the
newborn infants, the neonatal nurse ensure that the right medication is administered
and taken at the appropriate time. According to Kilpatrick et al. (2015), the neonatal
nurse is also responsible for monitoring the vital signs as well as providing vital nutrients
to the newborns. This is because the vital signs determine the treatment protocols,
provide important information which are used to make decisions and confirm feedback
based on the performed treatments. The vital nutrients sustain the growth and

development of the infants during the first month of their lives, strengthening their
immune systems and keeping the baby healthy. The neonatal nurse also develops
treatment plans and examinations for the newborns so as to ensure that the treatment
goals are met. The treatment plans and examinations ensure that a well-rounded
healthcare has been implemented to the infants. Moreover, the neonatal nurse keeps,
maintains and updates records of the infants so as to ensure continuity of care. Turner,
Chur‐Hansen, and Winefield (2014) argue that the neonatal nurse educates parents on
day-to-day operations and home care procedures. This is to ensure that the growth and
development of the infant is enhanced even without the care of the nurse.
Importance of Neonatal nurse role
The neonatal nurse role is very important because newborns require special care due to
their fragility. To ensure that newborn infants grow in to healthy adults, the neonatal
nurse must provide them with essential care. The neonatal nurse intervenes by
providing the infants with adequate essential nutrition, immunizing the infants,
registering them, administering antenatal steroids, transferring of high-risk newborns,
breastfeeding, and teaching strict handwashing procedures so as to prevent infections
(Wielenga, Tume, Latour, & van den Hoogen, 2015). The nurses also provide the
babies with emotional, physical and social interaction. The neonatal nurses are indebted
to conveying tender care to infants as the parents trusts them. The role of the neonatal
nurses is very important because they obtain and evaluate the test results of the
newborns as per their knowledge and experience. Neonatal nurses have specialized
skill sets which helps them handle newborns with much care. The skill sets of the