The Routine of Nights in the NICU

This nurse didn't think she wanted to be a NICU nurse until a surprise job offer changed her mind

Welcome to Nurse Ascent, a twice-weekly newsletter created by nurses for nurses. This week, one nurse tells the story of falling into the NICU specialty accidentally and loving it. We also discuss updates on the largest nursing strike in NYC history, a new milestone for cancer survival, as well as a $556M settlement made by Kaiser.

But first, a special shout out to those who take care of the tiniest patients...

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Nurse Spotlight: Karen Nenepamuseno RN, BSN

What I do for work

I work as a NICU nurse on night shift. We specialize in newborns who need help transitioning to extrauterine life. On my unit, we take care of wide range of these patients. They might be super micro pre-mature babies born at 22 weeks who need an ICU setting with ventilation, drips, etc. Half of our babies are there for a pretty long time, especially if they’re premies, so we get do a lot of continuity of care. This helps us know these long-term patients really well when we follow the baby more continuously throughout their care journey.

How I got here

When I graduated nursing school, I applied for a variety of jobs looking for my niche. I never specifically wanted to do NICU, especially after having my son, but I also knew adults wasn’t my thing and that I wanted to work with children. After a lot of applications and nearly taking a job in another area of my state, I was lucky to be hired for a job I applied to last minute and have been here ever since. Now, I reflect back on how meant-to-be that moment was because I love my job and I can’t imagine working in any other specialty.

Headlines in Healthcare

NYC nurses resume contract talks as historic strike enters day 11

Negotiations resumed Thursday between the New York State Nurses Association and three major hospital systems—Montefiore, Mount Sinai, and NewYork-Presbyterian—as New York City’s largest nursing strike in decades entered its 11th day. Roughly 15,000 nurses have been on strike since Jan. 12, demanding stronger staffing protections, workplace safety measures, and preservation of healthcare benefits. Talks resumed following public pressure from state and city leaders, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, as nurses continue picketing while hospitals rely on temporary staff to maintain operations.

7 out of 10 patients now survive cancer

According to the latest annual report from the American Cancer Society, 70% of cancer patients survive at least 5 years after diagnosis. The report notes a big improvement from the 1970s with a 50% survival rate as well at the 1990s with a 63% survival rate thanks to many improvement in treatment options over the years, per NBC News. Experts share that five years is most common for measuring cancer survival, since the risk of certain cancers recurring decreases significantly within that time frame.

Kaiser to pay $556 million lawsuit

Kaiser Permanente is set to pay a $556 million settlement after alawsuit alleged the healthcare corporation committed Medicare fraud. Four years ago, the DOJ filed a claim in San Francisco, alleging the company was pressuring doctors to incorrectly list diagnoses on medical records so they could receive higher reimbursements. This claim was made after several complaints made by whistleblowers shared warnings about the actions from Kaiser, one of the largest nonprofit health care plans in the U.S.

More on Karen

A day in my life

What I like about NICU is we have a basic structure to follow for the care of all the babies. If the baby is more critical, we try to touch the baby less, but for the most part, they all need full care including feeding and diaper changing, on top of assessing and providing nursing interventions. We have a set routine to provide this care every 3 hours and depending on how critical they are, we might have 2-3 patients during our shift. Towards the end of the night we do labs, x-rays or prep for any procedures, but because it’s night shift, we don’t have many parents or procedures to navigate, which helps make it a pretty predictable night. I personally like the structure of knowing more-or-less what will come next in my shift.

My self-care routine

Last year I started seeing a therapist once a week to help keep my mind from getting too burnt out. Before that, I was really contemplating leaving bedside because of the stress of working nights and having my sleep schedule all over the place while trying to continue to be a functioning parent of two. Now, I feel like a lot of my self care is spending time with my kids and taking a lot of naps to catch up on sleep to repair my crazy sleep schedule.

Share your story & be entered to win

As part of our effort to spotlight nurses, we’d love to feature you in an upcoming issue of Nurse Ascent! Share your story by filling out our quick interview form, and you’ll be entered into a raffle to win a $50 gift card.

An image of author Katie Scoggins is pictured.

Meet the author:
Katie Scoggins
(RN, BSN & Health Writer)

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