Registered Nurse Critical Care Nursing - Neonatal Advanced Care

Understanding the foundational principles of neonatal physiology and care is essential for providing safe, specialized support to vulnerable newborns and their families. This course introduces students to the unique developmental processes of the fetus and neonate, the transition to extrauterine life, and the critical role of nurses in neonatal intensive care. Emphasis is placed on evidence-informed practice, the interprofessional team, and trauma-informed, family-centered approaches. Students will explore culturally safe care, and the importance of early nutrition and skin-to-skin practices. Through interactive modules, required readings, and case-based reflections, learners will begin to build the knowledge and critical thinking skills required for specialized neonatal nursing roles.

This course focuses on how to assess and support the health of newborns in the NICU. Learners will explore how to recognize early signs of illness, understand lab values, and assess systems like respiratory, cardiac, neurologic, and gastrointestinal. Key topics include fluid balance, nutrition, pain assessment, and how medications work differently in neonates. Students will explore how prematurity, illness, or birth complications affect growth and development. With interactive online modules, case studies, and guided readings, learners will build the skills needed to collect and interpret clinical data, support families, and provide safe, evidence-informed care in the NICU.

Introducing learners to specialized nursing interventions in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), this course focuses on evidence-informed care for common high-risk conditions. Learners will examine respiratory distress syndrome, persistent pulmonary hypertension, neurological complications, and congenital anomalies. Emphasis is placed on clinical judgment, care planning, documentation, and therapeutic communication. Through case-based learning, clinical readings, and NICU-specific scenarios, students will apply current guidelines and research to plan, implement, and evaluate individualized care strategies for critically ill neonates. This course builds on foundational neonatal knowledge to support safe, effective nursing practice in complex care situations. 

This course focuses on advanced nursing care for critically ill neonates with complex or evolving clinical conditions. Learners will explore topics such as multisystem complications, surgical recovery, hemodynamic instability, and neonatal end-of-life care. Emphasis is placed on applying best practice guidelines and current evidence to inform individualized care planning, implementation, and evaluation. Through clinical scenarios, critical appraisal activities, and guided case analysis, students will continue to develop documentation, decision-making, and clinical judgment skills. This course complements Clinical Considerations I and supports safe, evidence-informed nursing practice in high-acuity neonatal environments.

Learners have the opportunity to explore applied, skill-based learning focused on specialized procedures and clinical decision-making in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Students will explore neonatal airway management, stabilization, vascular access, respiratory support, surfactant administration, pneumothorax treatment, and mechanical ventilation. Additional topics include lab interpretation, diagnostic testing, perinatal loss, and discharge planning. Emphasis is placed on applying best practice guidelines, critical thinking, and clinical reasoning to safely plan, implement, and evaluate interventions. Through simulation-based modules, evidence-informed resources, and documentation practice, learners will strengthen their capacity to deliver safe, individualized care, support families, and adapt to the evolving needs of critically ill neonates in high-acuity environments, including palliative and end of life care.

This virtual capstone course supports the integration of clinical experience, theoretical knowledge, and evidence-informed practice in neonatal care. Students will complete a guided, independent project focused on neonatal health outcomes, quality improvement, or practice change in collaboration with a Canadian healthcare organization, based on the organizational needs. Learners will formulate a practice question, appraise evidence, and develop a beginning knowledge translation or quality improvement initiative. Emphasis is placed on ethical and culturally safe care, interprofessional collaboration, and leadership in neonatal nursing. The course concludes with a scholarly project and virtual presentation demonstrating professional accountability, research literacy, and clinical judgment.

This in-person lab course (15 hours over 2 days) provides students with experiential learning to apply neonatal assessment skills, procedural competencies, and critical decision-making within a simulated NICU environment. Through case-based scenarios, peer collaboration, and guided practice with neonatal warmers, isolettes, manikins and task trainers, learners will consolidate their clinical judgment and readiness for NICU practice. Online modules and readings will be used for pre-lab preparation and post-lab debrief/reflections. 

Students have the opportunity to apply neonatal theory, skills, and clinical judgment in a supervised practice environment. Learners will integrate knowledge from previous courses while caring for infants and families in neonatal or other perinatal settings such as acute care, public health and other areas where newborns receive care. Emphasis is placed on safe, ethical, and culturally responsive care, interprofessional collaboration, and reflective practice. Clinical placements may vary by location and availability and typically involve 12 × 12-hour or 18 × 8-hour shifts.