Not everyone finds writing about stressful experiences to be stress-relieving, especially with a sick child in the hospital. However, expressive writing, also known in the medical setting as Narrative Medicine, has been shown to enhance empathy and resilience and mitigate burnout for healthcare practitioners, patients, and their families. A recent [...]
The concept of self-governance in nursing has been around for more than 30 years. Since then, the push to include direct care nurses and NNPs in hospital leadership and management decision-making has continued to grow. Self-governance in neonatal care and all disciplines of nursing stems from the premise that nursing [...]
One of the great perks of working as a NNP is being able to travel to new locations and work in long or short-term (locum tenens) assignments. You do not have to be tied down to one location or another, and this is where the nurse compact comes in handy! [...]
NNPs function differently from most other nurse practitioners due to the environment within which we work. We don’t have office hours, we work shifts similar to our nursing colleagues in the NICU. Whether you work 8, 10, 12, 16, or 24 hour shifts, time is always moving forward and requiring [...]
As hard as it may be to read the title of this article, it’s even harder to hear “withdraw care” uttered in the NICU on a regular basis. Should we retire and replace this phrase? Should we instead say, “redirect care as appropriate?” The power of language Alexander Wolf, [...]
In the job arena changes are, for the most part, always evolving. While some employees handle the changes well and in a positive manner, other employees find it most difficult. Even when working with the tiniest of patients in a neonatal unit, a new manager will often bring changes that [...]
Great news! No matter the reason for your decision, the current/ongoing NNP shortage ensures the need for your skills as an experienced NNP. It is both a blessing and a burden for travel NNPs to be able to pop into a new place, pick up the reins, and get to [...]
Aspirating and monitoring gastric residuals from gavage feeds in preterm newborns is common practice in the NICU. The aim of this practice is to guide the advancement of gavage feeds to enteral feeds. However, even today, we still cannot say with certainty whether or not this practice improves neonatal outcomes. [...]
So you’ve accepted a position with another employer. You resigned from your current job and went through the bright light treatment of the resignation process… but now they offer a counter-offer to stay. What do you do?! Is this a good decision, or even in your best interest? Let's put [...]
There are lots of stress points when considering making a job change: What type of job would warrant making a move? What level of compensation would you consider? Are you willing to relocate...and if so, to where? What about acuity level, delivery, transport, shifts, etc.? And these don’t even take [...]
