2 answers
Miya
Student
Rochester, Minnesota
5
Questions
Asked
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What is your favorite thing about your NICU position?
I'm in 10th grade at Mayo High school, and I also attend a program called P-TECH. I am doing an assignment where I research the job I want to have when I am older.
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2 answers
Ahamd Jawed Omari
MD
4
Answers
Union City, California
Updated
Ahamd Jawed’s Answer
I don't have any experience with NICU, I share some nots maybe helpful for you:
NICU nurses often highlight the following aspects:
Making a Difference: They get to provide care for some of the most vulnerable patients—newborns who need specialized attention. Being part of their journey and seeing them grow stronger every day is incredibly fulfilling.
Collaborative Environment: The NICU often involves working closely with a dedicated team of doctors, nurses, and specialists, fostering a collaborative and supportive work environment.
Family Support: NICU nurses play a crucial role in supporting and educating families, helping them navigate the challenges of having a newborn in intensive care.
Continual Learning: The NICU environment is dynamic and requires ongoing education and training, which many find intellectually stimulating and professionally rewarding.
For those in the NICU, these elements combined create a profoundly impactful and satisfying career.
NICU nurses often highlight the following aspects:
Making a Difference: They get to provide care for some of the most vulnerable patients—newborns who need specialized attention. Being part of their journey and seeing them grow stronger every day is incredibly fulfilling.
Collaborative Environment: The NICU often involves working closely with a dedicated team of doctors, nurses, and specialists, fostering a collaborative and supportive work environment.
Family Support: NICU nurses play a crucial role in supporting and educating families, helping them navigate the challenges of having a newborn in intensive care.
Continual Learning: The NICU environment is dynamic and requires ongoing education and training, which many find intellectually stimulating and professionally rewarding.
For those in the NICU, these elements combined create a profoundly impactful and satisfying career.
Deb Weber, MBA, MSRS, RCIS
Lab Assistant
18
Answers
Boise, Idaho
Updated
Deb’s Answer
Hi Miya,
As a hospital phlebotomist, I trained to collect samples on NICU patients. I loved the challenge of it! We had to obtain a variety of tests from these tiny baby heels - sometimes as many as 6 tests! We had to know how to warm up a heel so as not to cause burns or injury, and premature babies have such delicate skin that we also had to learn a special technique for squeezing the smallest heels. Not all tests could be obtained by capillary puncture, so we had to know how to obtain blood samples from very small arm veins, too. Sometimes that was unsuccessful, so the trained nurses might attempt collection from an umbilical, forehead, or foot vein.
I learned to watch the oxygen saturation of my patient, as premature babies usually decrease levels when touched and shortly after. If they didn’t return to normal shortly, then the nurse might turn up their oxygen.
I learned to use the capillary blood gas machine, and how to setup a platelet dilution, slides, and hematocrit tubes as part of the blood cell count. We also performed newborn screens - sometimes called “PKU”’s - to screen for nearly 40 metabolic conditions which can be deadly in the first few weeks of life: all that from 4 circles of blood on a piece of paper!
I absolutely loved my tiny patients, helping to reassure their very concerned parents, and being one of the phlebotomists others could call on when they had trouble getting a sample from a patient. And getting to see very critical 26 week gestation patients go home after 2 months in the NICU? Priceless!
I also loved working with the nurses - they were so expert with their patients and loved what they did. It was really good to be part of that team, and the experience has served me well in my health care career over the years. Highly recommend pursuing a position in NICU. Highly rewarding.
Keep asking questions
See if you can do a job shadow sometime
Keep an open mind - hospitals need many types of caregivers
As a hospital phlebotomist, I trained to collect samples on NICU patients. I loved the challenge of it! We had to obtain a variety of tests from these tiny baby heels - sometimes as many as 6 tests! We had to know how to warm up a heel so as not to cause burns or injury, and premature babies have such delicate skin that we also had to learn a special technique for squeezing the smallest heels. Not all tests could be obtained by capillary puncture, so we had to know how to obtain blood samples from very small arm veins, too. Sometimes that was unsuccessful, so the trained nurses might attempt collection from an umbilical, forehead, or foot vein.
I learned to watch the oxygen saturation of my patient, as premature babies usually decrease levels when touched and shortly after. If they didn’t return to normal shortly, then the nurse might turn up their oxygen.
I learned to use the capillary blood gas machine, and how to setup a platelet dilution, slides, and hematocrit tubes as part of the blood cell count. We also performed newborn screens - sometimes called “PKU”’s - to screen for nearly 40 metabolic conditions which can be deadly in the first few weeks of life: all that from 4 circles of blood on a piece of paper!
I absolutely loved my tiny patients, helping to reassure their very concerned parents, and being one of the phlebotomists others could call on when they had trouble getting a sample from a patient. And getting to see very critical 26 week gestation patients go home after 2 months in the NICU? Priceless!
I also loved working with the nurses - they were so expert with their patients and loved what they did. It was really good to be part of that team, and the experience has served me well in my health care career over the years. Highly recommend pursuing a position in NICU. Highly rewarding.
Deb recommends the following next steps: