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Mary Wlodyka

October 15, 2018


Presentation Outline
Ms. McFadden
Presentation Outline
1. Introduction
a. Good morning, my name is Mary Wlodyka. For my graduation project, I decided to focus
on the importance of the neonatal intensive care unit nurse or the NICU nurse.
2. Junior Year
a. Junior year, Ms Tuttle starts class one day with asking us to pick a topic that we want to
spend a year researching. I sat there and the only thing I could think of was the NICU. I
know what you are thinking: why the NICU? Well, I’m going to tell you. Ten years ago,
my little brother was born at twenty-eight weeks, he was two pounds and twelve ounces,
fifteen inches long, with a grade three brain bleed.
b. I researched on the NICU nurse, like what they do, their daily schedules, what role they
play in the unit with their medical team, the patients and their families.
c. I believe that a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit nurse plays a critical role in the survival and
well-being of premature babies.
i. During any regular shift there are 3 Neonatologists, 4 Neonatal Nurse
Practitioners (NNP), 2 resident physicians and somewhere between 17-22 NICU
nurses
ii. This means there are 5-6 nurses between each individual team.
iii. NICU nurses account for approximately 76% of the staff in the unit.
1. This means that they are the most active team members, readily available
for parents to ask questions to understand about their child’s care.
2. For the patient, they serve as the primary caretaker of a baby. They are
most up front with the babies, their office is the NICU so they are always
within at least 30 feet of their babies.
3. Service Learning Experience
a. In order to get the most accurate information for this section of my project, I decided the
best place for my SLE would be at a Level IV NICU. Yes, I understand my topic
encompasses every level, one through four with four being the highest, but being at a
level four ICU, I would experience more of what a nurse can do for the babies because
this unit can provide the most acute care to each of its patients. They have full range to
provide the medical care as the team best sees fit.
b. I shadowed NICU nurse Angie Haynie at Levine Children’s Hospital.
c. I worked as a shadow to Angie as well as three other NICU nurses. I had the opportunity
to speak with neonatologist, Paul Engstrom. Which was quite humorous for me because
he was actually my little brother’s neonatologist ten years ago. He remembered details
from his chart that I thought I only remembered, it was way too cool having the
opportunity to speak with him.
d. During the shift:
i. Within the first ten minutes of being in the NICU, we were called for a birth
where the baby was lacking their nasal cavity.
ii. We did pre-rounds and rounds.
iii. I was able to extubate a baby
iv. Observe x-rays and even watch an echo on a baby with a severe heart condition.
v. Spoke with parents about their child’s condition and steps moving forward in
their child’s care.
vi. One case that really stuck out to me was a baby of twenty-four weeks gestation,
this baby, and I kid you not, was from the bottom of my wrist to the tip of my
fingernail. She weighed as much as a coke can, it was heartbreaking that she was
so small because you think, she only had twenty four weeks to cook and now she
is here. But I went back almost four weeks later and she had grown a few
centimeters and was now the size of about two or three coke cans which was
phenomenal.
e. Throughout this experience, I learned this is 110% what I want to do when I am older. It
was the most amazing thing to me.
4. Product
a. My product was tricky at first trying to find something that kept my topic in mind while
also being creative.
b. After some thought I decided that a presentation to a group of students planning to pursue
nursing was the best way to go.
c. I spoke of the information on my paper, what the NICU means, how the nurses function
in the unit, and how they are not only the most visual and present member of the medical
team to the patient but also to their families.
d. After the presentation I had the students all take a survey just to assess their knowledge of
the NICU nurse
5. Learned
a. This is what I want to do
b. Even though I was not a victim to this during the project, procrastinating is never good. I
was lucky enough to get the required hours done last fall when the project was given and
then I have continued doing hours there helping in the NICU.

6. Next Steps
a. Moving forward, I would like to attend University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the
fall of 2019. I am waiting to hear back from their international honors college program
b. I would like to specialize in nursing
c. Eventually I would like to go to the graduate nursing program at UNCG or if I am lucky I
would like to attend the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston South
Carolina.

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