Neonatal nurse

Sara Morgan

Job Overview • Neonatal nurses provide complete care for

babies.• • They attend deliveries, weigh and measure

infants, bathe them and monitor their health.

• They also teach new parents about newborn care and breastfeeding.

Interests in this career• My auntie is a Neonatal nurse and she's lead her

life to be very successful.

• I think it also fits my personality to be around kids and helping them.

Schooling • You need to either go to a community college and get an

Associate's degree in Nursing, or to a university and get a Bachelor's degree in Nursing.

• Then you take your state boards to get your RN. After that, you are able to work in a NICU - they will train you in neonatal care because you don't learn that in school

• It's your choice whether you get the 2-year Associate's degree or the 4-year Bachelor's, as both are accepted in the NICU.

• Registered Nurse License, 24 months and 2,000 hours of specialty experience as an RN and employment in the specialty within the 24 months preceding the certification exam.

Schooling/Costs• On the high end of neonatal nursing tuition, private universities

can charge as much as $1,000 per credit; on the low end, state universities charge about $200 per credit for residents and $500 per credit for nonresidents.

• For a 40-credit program, you could be spending anywhere from $8,000 to $40,000 on neonatal nursing tuition. For a 60-credit program, you might be paying $12,000 to $60,000

Salary/Future Outlook• Registered Nurse (RN) $50,655

• Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NP) $79,265

• Nurse Practitioner (NP) $65,244  

• Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP) $73,396  

Salary/Future Outlook• Entry Level

Neonatal nurse practitioners with less than one year of work experience earned an average salary of $49,296 to $68,784.

• One to Four Years of EmploymentNeonatal nurse practitioners with one to four years of work experience in the field earned annual

salaries of $61,674 to $81,827

• Five to Nine Years of EmploymentThe average salary range for neonatal nurse practitioners with five to nine years of experience

was $67,520 to $84,570 in

• 10 to 19 Years of EmploymentThe income of neonatal nurse practitioners with 10 to 19 years of experience in the field was

$80,901 to $104,313

• Most Experienced Once neonatal nurse practitioners achieved 20 years of work experience or more, their

maximum average salary increased to $111,831.

• Employer Type• The highest paying employers of neonatal nurse practitioners were private practices, where nurses

earned average maximum salaries of $108,283, while hospitals were the lowest paying employers with salaries of $93,526.

Working Conditions/Hazards• Nurses may spend considerable time walking and standing. Patients in hospitals

and nursing care facilities require 24-hour care, nurses in these institutions may work nights, weekends, and holidays. RNs also may be on call – available to work on short notice

• Individuals with infectious diseases give out risks to other nurses. Nurses must observe rigid standardized guidelines to guard against disease and other dangers, such as those posed by radiation, accidental needle sticks, chemicals used to sterilize instruments, and anesthetics. In addition, they are vulnerable to back injury when moving patients, shocks from electrical equipment, and hazards posed by compressed gases.

Related Occupations• Emergency Room—A fast paced day filled with a little bit of

everything

• Flight Nursing—Transport of sick patients to larger hospitals and traumas.

• Neurology Nurse—Recovering strokes and brain injuries.

Resources/Citations• http://www.become-a-nurse-now.com/types-

of-nurses.html

• http://answers.yahoo.com/;_ylt=AvP40gMTbQ2152kvVN_cv2.e.Bd.;_ylv=3?link=recent

• http://answers.yahoo.com/;_ylt=AvP40gMTbQ2152kvVN_cv2.e.Bd.;_ylv=3?link=recent