Neonatal Development Research Paper

Words: 725
Pages: 3

Enhancing Neonatal Development Through Positioning
The neonatal period stands as the time between a newborn’s birth and one month of age, a time of enduring transition from the intrauterine to the extrauterine environment. This period stands as an ongoing adjustment from relying on the maternal body systems to developing the neonate’s own systems. Vulnerability stands as a key notion in this neonatal period, resulting from immature body systems and immune suppression. The neonate’s body system development requires time, risk factor avoidance, and educated caregivers. A factor that places neonates at risk for developmental delays stands as prematurity, or birth prior to 37 weeks' gestation. When a mother goes into premature labor, or requires an emergent cesarean section, the premature neonate may need to transfer to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to receive continuous monitoring, medical treatments and developmental care.
In the NICU, the neonatal health care team will unite pharmacological and nonpharmacological options to provide high-quality, age-appropriate care. Although the pharmacological options stand dominant and desirable, nonpharmacological options impact the neonate’s development, hospital stay length and body system maturation. One prevalent nonpharmacological NICU option stands as positioning
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I witnessed the three positions that nurses place neonates in – Supine, side lying, and prone – but I did not encounter a policy that ensured the regularity of position changes or nursing education. As a vulnerable population, it stands as the nurse’s duty to assess the neonate, determine what interventions to implement and to reassess the neonate upon completion. For this reason, I desired to enhance my understanding of positioning, create an implementation to ensure regular positioning, and increase NICU nurse’s