Neonatal nursing may be a sub-specialty of medical care for newborn infants up to twenty-eight days after birth. The term
neonatal comes from neo, "new", and natal, "pertaining to
birth or origin".
Neonatal nursing requires a high degree of skill, dedication, and emotional strength because the nurses look after newborn infants with a variety of problems, varying between prematurity,
birth defects, infection, cardiac malformations and surgical problems.
Neonatal nurses are an important part of the
neonatal care team and are required to understand basic newborn resuscitation, be ready to control the newborn's temperature and skills to initiate cardiopulmonary and pulse oximetry monitoring. Most
neonatal nurses look after infants from the time of
birth until they're discharged from the hospital.
Relevant Topics in Medical Sciences
