Final product Progress! 3/22/2021

This week, I was able to learn about discharge and the transition into becoming a nurse practitioner (NP)! I was really excited to learn about this, as it is the final step for the baby to be able to go home. What I found out was that this can oftentimes be a lengthy process. I learned that there’s a lot of “checkpoints” that the baby has to have done in order to go home. For instance, they need to be at least 35 weeks old, they need to be able to sit in a car seat (there’s no “magic” weight which determines this), they have to be off oxygen for at least 24-48 hours, they can’t have episode of a decrease in heart rate, and it needs to be around 1-2 weeks of their due date. I had no idea that there were so many aspects to this. Oftentimes, the feeding portion is what takes the longest and discourages the parents- Babies need to be able to take 8 bottles a day on their own before they can leave. Another big portion of this week was that I learned about the transition into becoming an NP. My mentor, Mrs. Morman suggested to spend more than 2 years as a neonatal nurse, because it will allow me to gain experience and feel comfortable in the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU. I learned that undergrad may be more difficult than grad school as a whole. This makes me a little nervous, but I received some great advice from Mrs. Morman! In terms of my final product, I was able to add this information under the section for discharge. It took quite a while, as I wanted to be thorough and add lots of detail so that the reader is left with no questions. Next week, I need to continue to work on my final product and get it done soon!