User:Eflake123/Neonatal nursing

Article body
Roles and responsibilities

Adding:

Skills

Working in the neonatal specialty takes a special type of individual who is willing to show compassion and empathy, all while upholding a sense of professionalism. Many emotions can be associated with this field of care. Neonatal nurses are caring for sick, high-risk newborns, that require 24/7 high technical care. The NICU is a high traffic area carrying lots of emotions, dedication, and critical thinking and care, in which these nurses must not fold under the pressure. Nursing in the NICU is hard, mentally challenging work, but many report that all of the challenges are worth it.

Changes in neonatal care

Adding:

Family Involvement (United States)

In the later 70s, family involvement in treatment became a major addition to patient treatment plans. This decade allowed for upgrades in visiting hours. Hours were expanded and siblings and fathers were encouraged to assist the mother in physical treatment. Many studies showed that with the higher frequency of family interaction such as bottle feeding, skin-to-skin contact, and overall baby holding, and support allowed for patients to have overall major health improvements which eventually lead to a decreasing need for ventilators and quicker discharge rates.

Add: Parent's Role

Parents of the NICU patients involved in the daily life of a neonatal nurse. Having a newborn in the NICU can be stressful for all involved, and it is vital that the nurses and health care team keep the family members up to date on all treatments and care plans, as well as the status of the patient. Reports have shown that parents who were kept up to date will all information pertaining to their newborn showed higher confidence in their team and baby's health. Many parents report the feeling of neglect and stress when it comes to the status of their baby. Although the nursing team is in constant motion caring for their patients, part of their role is to keep the parents up to date and informed.

More research has shown that patient-parent interactions are very beneficial to the parents' overall stress and mental health. If the nurses and other parts of the patient's health care team feel confident in their status, they may allow for skin-to-skin contact, hand holding, and physical holding all while maintaining proper cleanliness procedures.

Add: Mental Health of a Neonatal Nurse

Nursing is a both physically and mentally challenging career field, especially when working in the NICU. With constant issues arising with their patients, neonatal nurses spend most of the day on their feet and have little breaks to recover from their physical demands. Considering these factors, along with high patient turnover, parent involvement, and the frustrations of losing a patient, mental health issues are a huge issue in this field. All of these issues contribute to the high turnover of nurse employment in the NICU, as many cannot handle it and quickly feel the sensation of "nurse burnout"

Many current neonatal nurses report another main cause of stress is the lack of employment in the NICU, leading to higher patient-nurse ratios. Each patient is very critical in their care and need the constant attention of their health care professionals, which can be difficult when the ratios rise. Although high frequencies of neonatal nurses confirmed all of the stressors and frustrations, they confirmed it is all worth is when their patients are discharged with successful outcomes.

Article Proposal and Bibliography
After thoroughly reading my proposed article and researching the topic and sources, I have come up with an appropriate plan to add to and edit the article. As addressed before, and partially fixed, this article suffers from many punctual and grammatical errors. Following this, the article could also use a better sense of flow, as to not confuse or distract the reader away from the information. Once I found a few of my sources, I decided it would be appropriate to add a section on parents and their perception of nurses. Following the same topic, I think it would be appropriate to add a section on the mental health of nurses, and how this could affect their day-to-day life, whether it be in work or off the clock. I also feel it would be appropriate to add a "skills needed" sub-section under "Roles and Responsibilities". Lastly, there is a section in the article labeled "Academy of Neonatal Nursing" which I feel is an unnecessary addition to the article. The original author only wrote a few sentences in the section, and the information seems as if it is not useful. If I decide to keep the information, I may add it to a different section where it would properly fit.