How to Become a NICU Nurse?: Education, Skills, Salary, and More
If you want to take care of people and make a change in their lives, why not get a job helping them from when it all starts — birth. Becoming a neonatal nurse will enable you to work with newborns and their families. In this article, you can learn more about NICU nurses, their duties, salaries, and how to become one.
What Is a Neonatal Nurse?
A neonatal nurse is a specific type of nurse caring for newborns and babies up to two years old. They work with infants who have low birth weight, cardiac defects, congenital disorders, infections, or other medical problems.
As one of the most challenging and at the same time fulfilling nursing careers, neonatal nursing requires excellent observation, empathy, quick reaction, and organizational skills. Typically, neonatal nurses work in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), helping provide various levels of care to patients. In addition, they may work in other settings like maternity wards, home health services, community health organizations, etc.
Below you can learn more about neonatal care levels and NICU nurse duties and responsibilities.
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Levels of neonatal care
A neonatal nurse can offer different types of care. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), there are four neonatal care levels that a healthcare facility can provide, where higher levels offer more specialized care.
Level I: Basic newborn care
Level I of neonatal nursing is meant for newborns in good physical condition, and the facilities providing this care are often referred to as "well newborn nurseries". Here nurses provide regular postnatal care for preterm babies at 35 to 37 weeks of gestation and ill newborns who are less than 35 gestational weeks until they are moved to other facilities.
Neonatal nurses at the level I facilities can perform neonatal resuscitation, give shots, perform hearing and vision tests, bathe, and teach mothers how to take care of their babies.
Level II: Special care
In these nurseries, you can find newborns born at or after 32 weeks, weighing more than or equal to 1500 g at birth, with moderate health issues.
Neonatal nurses working in special care nurseries have all the capacities of level I nurses. In addition, they take care of newborns recovering after intensive treatment and can offer feeding support and medication to babies. Also, they provide assisted ventilation to babies with breathing problems, temporarily until the newborn’s condition improves or until the baby can be transferred to a higher-level facility.
Level III: Intensive care
Neonatal intensive care unit facilities provide life support for as long as necessary, offering ongoing assisted ventilation for more than 24 hours, high-frequency ventilation, and advanced imaging.
Level III neonatal nurses are specifically qualified and trained to work in the NICU. Here they provide care for infants born before 32 weeks of gestation, weighing less than 1500g, or for newborns with severe medical or surgical conditions.
Level IV: Highest care level
Level IV facilities are also called regional NICUs and are often linked to a larger hospital specializing in surgical repair of severe genetic or acquired conditions. Among other procedures, they provide mechanical ventilation, various advanced surgeries, like "open-heart" surgeries, and ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation).
In addition to neonatal nurses, regional NICU teams consist of pediatric medical subspecialists and other experts. They offer care to infants born at 22 to 24 weeks of gestation with critical health problems.
What Do NICU Nurses Do?
Neonatal nurses working in NICU have a wide variety of duties. Their responsibilities may include resuscitating infants, educating new mothers about breastfeeding, and everything in between. NICU nurses work together with professionals like pediatricians, midwives, and dietitians, to provide care to newborns with various health problems. They may attend births, and they measure and weigh newborns. NICU nurses ensure that an infant's bodily functions, such as blood circulation, digestion, and breathing, perform as expected. Furthermore, they have a crucial role in supporting the baby's parents.
Typical duties of a NICU neonatal nurse include:
performing tests to evaluate any problems;
monitoring infant health;
documenting patient history;
administering treatment and medication prescribed by doctors;
educating new parents on how to care for their baby;
communicating with parents about the care and health of their infant, etc.
How to Become a NICU Nurse?
If you are considering a career in neonatal nursing, you need to know what it takes to get there. Here are the NICU nurse requirements and steps you need to take to become one.
Obtain an ADN or BSN degree
The first step towards becoming a NICU nurse is obtaining a nursing degree from an accredited nursing program. You can choose between a two-year Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) and a four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree. However, hospitals usually prefer BSN degree holders for NICU positions.
NICU schooling programs typically include courses like:
Anatomy and physiology,
Biology,
Chemistry,
Pharmacology,
Psychology,
Microbiology,
Nutrition, and
Statistics.
Pass the NCLEX-RN license exam
After obtaining a nursing degree, the next step is getting your license. In order to do that, you will need to sit for the National Council Licensure Exam for registered nurses, also known as the NCLEX-RN, and become a registered nurse. The NCLEX is managed by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. It tests your knowledge in various areas of nursing like health promotion and maintenance, psychosocial integrity, physiological integrity, etc. After passing the examination, you will be able to apply for your RN license.
Gain experience in neonatal care
After obtaining your license and becoming an RN, you will need to gain clinical experience in neonatal care. Employers usually require a minimum of two years working with neonatal patients. You can focus on units such as:
general pediatrics,
labor and delivery,
maternal-child nursing, etc.
This way, you show your employers that you have the necessary practical skills to work in NICU.
Pursue certifications in neonatal care
After becoming an RN and obtaining clinical experience, you can choose between many organizations that offer neonatal nursing certifications to develop your skills further. Although not always a requirement, becoming certified in neonatal care gives you a competitive edge for NICU nursing positions, especially those at the higher unit levels.
Organizations such as the National Certification Corporation (NCC) and the American Association of Critical Care Nursing (AACN) offer various certifications, including:
Career Advancement For NICU Nurses
Neonatal nursing offers many career advancement opportunities. With experience and advanced education by pursuing a master of science in nursing (MSN) degree or a doctor of nursing practice (DNP), you can get promoted or land various clinical leadership roles within a NICU.
One possible option is becoming a neonatal nurse practitioner (NNP). You need a graduate degree and two years of nursing experience for this position. In addition, you must pass the NNP certification exam offered by the National Certification Commission.
Other positions you can choose from include:
nurse-midwife,
nurse educator,
nurse manager,
clinical nurse specialist, and
developmental care specialist.
NICU Salary and Job Outlook
According to reports, in the United States, the average salary for an RN NICU is $108,184 per year. This number represents the median of the estimated range that starts from $49,000 as the lowest salary and reaches up to $244,000 as one of the highest pays.
In addition to the lucrative salary, the job outlook for all RNs, including NICU, is also promising. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of registered nurses is projected to grow by 9% from 2020 to 2030. Each year, there are estimated to be around 194,500 job openings for professionals in this field.
Final Thoughts
The profession of a neonatal intensive care nurse is one of the most demanding yet rewarding career choices you can make. If you are up for the challenge, follow our guide on how to become a NICU nurse and begin working in this field.
Although NICU nurse requirements can be quite challenging to fulfill, in the end, the role is a highly rewarding one. In addition to the promising job outlook and high salary, you will benefit from the joy of ensuring infants get to live and witness the beauties of this world. Your patients might be tiny, but the difference you can make by helping with their healthcare is enormous.