Is a NICU nurse also considered a neonatal cardiology nurse?

I think that NICU nurses do need to know everything about a neonate’s cardiac and respiratory needs, so NICU nurses could be called neonatal cardiology nurses, right? Or would neonatal cardiology nurses work more with neonatal cardiologists?

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Best Answer: The children's hospital I am affiliated with does not have specific neonatal cardiology nurses. There is simply NICU nurses and Pediatric Intensive Care (PICU). If the baby is less than 30 days old, regardless if it has cardiac issues, is under the care of the NICU RNs, who care for babies with all kinds of conditions including cardiac. The PICU is for any child from 30 days to 18 years and would also include cardiac intensive care patients. There is a separate pediatric cardiology unit for 30 days to 18 years who are non-critical. They also take a variety of regular medical / surgical overflow patients on a regular basis so it isn't only cardiac patients.So in a nutshell, no, at least where I work, there is not a separate, specific NICU cardiology RN.

2 Comments

  • Jill
    June 7, 2009 | Permalink |

    The children’s hospital I am affiliated with does not have specific neonatal cardiology nurses. There is simply NICU nurses and Pediatric Intensive Care (PICU). If the baby is less than 30 days old, regardless if it has cardiac issues, is under the care of the NICU RNs, who care for babies with all kinds of conditions including cardiac. The PICU is for any child from 30 days to 18 years and would also include cardiac intensive care patients. There is a separate pediatric cardiology unit for 30 days to 18 years who are non-critical. They also take a variety of regular medical / surgical overflow patients on a regular basis so it isn’t only cardiac patients.

    So in a nutshell, no, at least where I work, there is not a separate, specific NICU cardiology RN.

  • mtwaites
    June 7, 2009 | Permalink |

    No. NICU is a critical care nurse, and then a cardiology one is completely in a different field.

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