Nursing Global Conference

The NICU is the highest and most advanced nursing specialty in terms of providing care to newborn babies suffering from serious health conditions, including prematurity, respiratory distress syndrome, congenital anomalies, and many more. The nurses help improve the condition of the newborn and the family members through observation and support for these fragile needs. This session will focus on key considerations for the NICU nurse regarding best practices in neonatal care and advanced monitoring that can be supportive for family-centered approaches.

Most of the care to the neonates assigned to this nurse's caseload will involve high-intensity monitoring and management of each individual newborn's vital signs-heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation. Skilled nurses play their role through making use of the advanced equipment, ventilators, incubators, and infusion pumps to support the basic physiological needs of an infant. On such a continuous monitoring, change in interventions, and response to changes in the newborn's status through NICU nurses, interventions are timely. Thus, this gives way to stabilize vulnerable newborns and promotes their development.

Apart from providing health care, NICU nurses take the role of showing and counseling families at the most critical moment. Parents of newborns found in the NICU usually experience severe stress and anxiety since they have to be burdened with all the complications associated with their newborns' medical conditions. Core Provision by NICU nurses is providing sensitive information explaining the condition of their infant, the implication of each treatment, and what to expect in the NICU. This core element of NICU nursing is family-centered care since nurses also encourage parents to participate as much as possible in the care of their baby and thus facilitate bonding and emotional healing of the family.

Measures concerning infection control and also a safe, sterile environment are employed by NICU nurses in safeguarding newborns who are considered vulnerable. Hygiene is strictly followed among nurses-cases, for instance, the sterilization of equipment, minimizing exposure of the infant by using minimal handling to reduce the chances of infections that can damage the premature or critically ill newborn. The NICU nurse also collaborates with a large number of interdisciplinary teams such as neonatologists, respiratory therapists, and social workers within integral care planning to specifically address the needs of each newborn.

This will involve best practices in NICU nursing, including care where techniques are discussed such as monitoring techniques, family engagement, infection prevention practice, ways of enhancing comfort in the NICU, developmental care practices, and emotional support for infant and family. If carried out following these guidelines, it is possible that NICU nurses can present quality, compassionate care that promotes healing, growth, and resilience in even the most vulnerable patients.

These guidelines develop a guide for the critical care NICU nurses who are responsible and committed to the care of critically ill neonates and facilitates their roles in giving very specific care within the NICU environment.