Nursing Perspectives: Acute Care Nurse Practitioners in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Why This Is a Successful Collaboration

Abstract

The steadily increasing prominence of the neonatal nurse practitioner (NNP) in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) across the United States has gone largely unnoticed outside the neonatology and nursing literature. Although most NICUs in the United States employ NNPs (now often called neonatal advanced practice registered nurses) and neonatologists widely accept this approach, physicians and nurses in other intensive care settings may be surprised at the extent and sophistication of this new collaborative practice model. This model of expanded interprofessional practice and enhanced contributions by highly specialized nurses to the daily care of critically ill newborns and their families has proven successful. It exemplifies intelligent evolution of care and warrants recognition and emulation across critical care practice. We previously described proposed changes in the educational requirements for NNPs. This article provides historical background of the introduction and addresses the importance of NNPs in NICUs.