A Day in the Life of a Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (ANNP)
As a Senior ANNP I provide and facilitate the care of premature, term and sick newborns. I am a qualified adult nurse and midwife, and it was whilst I was working as a midwife that I started to expand professionally into neonatal care.
I started working in my local special care baby unit (SCBU) as a midwife. I liked the idea of being an ANNP, so started along the path to achieve that. This included undertaking a qualification in neonatal nursing and moving to a neonatal unit with a higher level of neonatal care. I then undertook a Master’s degree to become an ANNP. I qualified in 2008.
My day is varied. Some days, I am based in the neonatal unit where I look after babies born from 27 weeks gestation. This care includes managing respiratory needs, especially if they are ventilated or on less invasive support; screening for infection including cannulation, prescribing and test result interpretation; feed management including central line placement; and parental support. I also do discharge planning for those babies who are clinically ready for home. I have been able to expand my clinical skills by performing head ultrasounds on the babies in the unit.
Another part of my role is working on the postnatal ward, transitional care unit and delivery wards. Here I attend any delivery with concerns for / or potential concerns for the baby, such as with a Caesarean section, a preterm delivery or when the baby is stressed in labour. This is to provide resuscitation and stabilisation skills as needed. Ward work includes newborn examinations and reviews, planning of care, treatment for infection, feeding management, and discharge planning.
The other part of my role is around improving care and leading change. This is done through audit, research, education and quality improvement. I am trained as a Newborn Life Support instructor, where I teach neonatal nurses and Doctors, as well as midwives how to resuscitate a newborn. I was able to undertake my Doctoral research at my local hospital, and am leading on the implementation of anything from “good ideas” to large programmes of care such as the preterm optimisation pathway and Avoiding Term Admissions to the Neonatal unit (ATAIN). I also participate in neonatal special interest groups, and have academic work published, in order to promote high quality neonatal care.
There are local opportunities for career progression from ANNP to senior ANNP to Lead ANNP, with the introduction of a Consultant ANNP being considered. Also, recently I have started working with the local Neonatal Operational Delivery Network, to participate in a regional approach to improving neonatal care.
My job is the best combination of all my professional qualifications and experience, and I love that I get to make a real difference in the lives of the neonates in my care and their families.
Marie Lindsay-Sutherland
