The Impact the NICU has on Medical Staff

Abstract

The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is a stressful environment for the infants and their families. While patients and families get to eventually leave the unit, medical staff including nurses, doctors, child life specialists, physical therapists, and chaplains go back every day. Research shows that working on the NICU unit can have psychological and physical effects on staff members due to high demands of the job and collaborating with difficult families. While some research shows that there are negative effects, several articles highlight that with good coping skills, staff can handle the stressors in the NICU effectively to where there is little to none negative impact and they feel the job is rewarding. In this poster, I will identify different stressors in the NICU that have an effect on staff as well as effective coping efforts by the staff proven to combat negative effects. Finally, different ways medical staff stress can be minimized in the NICU will be outlines.