Working in our unit.
Royal North Shore Hospital is located in the Lower North Shore suburb of St Leonards. We moved to our new unit in 2003. The Newborn Care Centre (NCC) is located in the Douglas Building. It is a spacious and modern unit with the most up to date medical equipment thanks to our benefactor The Humpty Dumpty Foundation.
From our unit we have views of the Harbour Bridge and the city sky line. We are centrally located with easy transportation. We are a 3 minute walk to St Leonards train station, a 15 minute train ride into the city or a 10 minute drive to the heart of Sydney 's central business district.
Neonatal nursing is a relatively new dynamic specialty. Due to this there are great opportunities for nurses to devote their skills to newborns who require specialised care.
The Newborn Care Centre at Royal North Shore Hospital is a 25 bed medical unit. We care for newborn babies who are delivered preterm and at term who experienced complications before or after birth. We are a tertiary referral centre and such we look after many babies from around the state of NSW.
Nursing staff rotate through all areas of the nursery – intensive care, high dependency and special care. Rotation through the areas follows a comprehensive orientation program encompassing each area of the nursery.
The intensive care nursery is the most technological dependent area of the unit with 10 beds in total. Nurses in this area care for babies requiring respiratory support, multiple procedures or close observation. Staff working in this area also attend the high risk deliveries in the maternity unit and are involved with resuscitation of these babies.
The high dependency nursery is the step down from the intensive care nursery. It comprises of 7 beds. Babies cared for in this area may require supplemental oxygen, IV therapy, gavage feeds and assistance with thermoregulation.
In the special care nursery the babies are getting ready for discharge home. The main focus of this area of the nursery is parental education and development of parent crafting skills. A focus on the family as a whole, is especially important in this area.
Nurses working in the Newborn Care Centre at RNSH are privileged to work in a friendly and supportive environment. There is a wide range of skill mix and diverse cultures within nursing and medical staff which makes this a dynamic place to work.
The nurses working in the Newborn Care Centre attend many social events together. Each year many fundraising balls are held for various units throughout the hospital and this is a great chance to socialise outside of work. We also become involved in fundraising events for the Humpty Dumpty Foundation including the Balmoral Burn. We regularly meet for dinner and drinks in Crow Nest and the Cabana bar, which are both within walking distance to the unit.
This is a highly technical and challenging area of nursing with great job satisfaction.
If you are interested in joining our friendly nursing staff for a rewarding career in neonatal nursing please contact our nurse unit manager Lynette Grant : LGrant@nsccahs.health.nsw.gov.au
Tess Porteous Registered Nurse July, 2007