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Neonatal Nurse Practitioner - Career Profile |
Career OverviewTypically, neonatal nurse practitioners provide care to both low and high rinks infants. They treat infants with both acute and chronic health issues and they also counsel family members to deal with issues of neonatal illness. They may also education family members in the general and specific treatment of infants.
They work in a range of different environments, including general hospital settings, intermediate care unites, follow-up clinics, community-base settings, and neonatal intensive care units.
Neonatal nurse practitioners also fulfill the roles of consultants, educators, researchers, and leaders in neonatal care. They can offer expert clinical care to infants directly and also indirectly by assisting other nurses and medical personnel. They have important roles to play in parent education and staff education and training.
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Career RequirementsTo be accepted by a nurse-practitioner program, candidates must be registered nurses and hold at least a Bachelor's Degree in nursing from an accredited institution.
Nurse practitioner training programs last between 18 months and 24 months and typically involve both classroom study and clinical training. The classroom instruction is relatively basic, exploring the most basic issues of preventative health care, proper nutrition, and basic anatomy and physiology, because most nurse practitioners have only the most basic exposure to medical theory.
Practitioners who specialize in neonatal care have experience in general medicine, amounting to usually at least one year's work of supervised clinical experience. Experience is focused on the general and specific care of infants.
Some institutions offer specialist training programs and certification in neonatal nursing. More information about training programs and certification is available through the following organization:
American Academy of Nurse Practitioners
P.O. Box 12846,
Austin, TX 78711
www.aanp.org
American Nurses Credentialing Center
600 Maryland Ave., SW, Suite 100 West
Washington, D.C. 20024-2571
(800) 284-2378
American Nurses' Association
8518 Georgia Ave.,
Ste. 400,
Silver Spring, MD 20910
www.nursingworld.org
The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties,
National Directory of Nurse Practitioner Programs
1522 K St. NW, Ste. 702,
Washington, DC 20005
www.nonpf.com
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Job OutlookThere is and always will be a need for specialist care for infants and young children from birth. Neonatal nurse practitioners are in a strong position to care for infants and their families. Their specialist medical training in neonatal care, combined with typical nursing skills, determine that they are in an excellent positions to provide sensitive care under difficult circumstances.
All indications suggest that nurse practitioners with specialist skills and training in neonatal care will have opportunities to work assist administrators, policy-makers, educators, researchers, and practitioners to improve the care of infants. They will be valuable members of the workforce well into the foreseeable future.
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Career TrackSee Nurse Practitioner
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CompensationSee Nurse Practitioner
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