NICU Nurse Interview

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Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Nurse Interview: (NICU Nurse)

• Name: Beth McHale
• Job Title, Where they are Working: Registered Nurse/ NICU Nurse at CHKD Hospital

• Education: Bachelors of Science in Fitness/Cardiac Rehabilitation in Exercise Sci- ence, BSN, Certification in High Risk Neonatal Care.
• What Inspired her to get into the field? She stated that she always knew that she wanted to work with babies in the NICU. She also stated that she wanted to provide care to patients.
• What was her path to her current job? Through high school, she actually wanted to be a doctor and go to medical school. So, she went into college and majored in biolo- gy. She then stated that she thought it took too much time. She said she also wanted to be on the more patient care side of medicine. Mrs McHale stated that she liked the idea of the patients being smaller than her so they were easier to control, however, she did not realize how feisty the babies can be. One story she spoke about was how this baby girl was pulling all over her tubing and she said, “Even though she was the size of my palm, it took everything to contain her!”
• Basic Roles/ Responsibilities: Her basic roles as a NICU nurse are checking the patients vital signs, diaper changes, position changes (because they are babies and they cannot adjust themselves), airway management (which includes suctioning, dressings, etc.), and NG tube placement/feeding through NG tube. They also perform IV starts and manage the central lines and IV fluids. She also will perform lab draws, which include heel sticks to get the babies blood. The babies will also be stuck in the arteries because they are easier to find. She also has the role of a charge nurse sometimes. This means that she does some paperwork, and she will retrieve babies from delivery to go into the NICU. However, there are no deliveries in CHDK hospital, so many babies come from Norfolk General Hospital. She will also assign staff to bedside care, and assign roles for who will do what job for the next shift. She will also place PIC lines and do maintenance for them. The nurse to patient ratio is normally 2- 3 babies per nurse.
• Most Rewarding Aspect of the Job: She stated that the most rewarding aspect of the job was when the babies get to go home. This is due to the fact that some of the babies have to stay there for a long time. There have been some times where the baby had to stay there for a little over a year, so she said it is rewarding to see them progress and get to go home with their parents.

• Most Surprising Aspect of the Job: She said the most surprising aspect was how attached you can get to the baby and their parents. She said that she obviously hopes they get better, but she can get attached. Another surprising aspect she stated was how hard it is to work with a lot of other women at the same time. She said that the NICU normally has more female nurses. The staff average is 26-31 nurses a shift, plus the care partners, and respiratory therapists.
• Most Challenging Aspect of the Job: She stated the most challenging aspect is some of the family interactions. She said most are very thankful, but then you get the few who can be rude and they don’t understand why the nurses are poking the ba- bies, even though the nurses know its in the best interest for the baby, it can be hard to convince the parents that it is in the babies best interest. Another challenging as- pect she brought up was interacting with the physicians. She said that the nurses know the babies so well, so they can detect when there is a minor change in the baby’s behavior. She stated it can be hard to get the physicians to listen when they think something is wrong.
• Advice she would give for someone entering the Health Field: Her advice was to give it a chance. She said her first clinical experience was in Geriatrics in a nursing home, which differed from what she wanted to do because she wanted to work with babies. She also said that there is a huge range of options, so do not be afraid to try all the different aspects.
• How has Coronavirus impacted her job? She said that the big difference is just having a mask on at all times. It doesn’t have to be an N95 unless a patient is covid positive. Also if there is a covid positive mom, the baby has to go into isolation. There is also some limited visitation. There are two people allowed in the room, normally the mom and the mom can choose who else she wants. The only exception is end of life circumstance, one person at a time would be escorted from the lobby and to the pa- tient room. One interesting thing she stated was her husband is actually a respiratory therapist at Norfolk General and anytime they are in a patients room, they have to have on the N95 mask.