By Lee Ann Sides Garrett
news@salisburypost.com
Carol Snyder says she has a “unique perspective” on her job.
She is a neonatal nurse practitioner, a registered nurse with special training for providing primary health care for babies, including many tasks customarily performed by a physician. Snyder is part of a Novant Health program where about 15 neonatal nurse practitioners rotate among four area hospitals. Rowan Regional Medical Center became part of the program in January.
Snyder’s perspective comes from being the mother of premature babies who needed neonatal care.
“I had 28-week triplets,” Snyder says. “They were eight weeks premature.”
Trudy Pollock, head of the program for Novant, says the addition of the practitioners will allow the hospital to care for more sick babies and preemies on site.
“Most sick babies, it’s just transitioning. The baby will do well,” says Pollock. “They just need that level of care for a little while. Babies can still be moved to another hospital if serious enough to warrant it.”
Pollock says the neonatal nurse practitioners, in addition to sick baby care, consult with obstetricians about pregnancies and deliveries. They act as counselors for parents of sick babies, assist with high risk or complicated deliveries and help with examinations of newborns. Salisbury Pediatric physicians supervise the program at Rowan Regional.
Snyder says obstetricians decide when they need to attend regular deliveries.
“We’re there at regular deliveries if the baby may be at risk,” says Snyder, “or if the delivery just doesn’t feel right.”
“High-risk delivery can be anything from low heart rate to the mother having a fever,” says fellow NNP Lisa Garzoni. “We’re called for anything less than 36 weeks.”
Snyder, from Charlotte, and Garzoni, from Indian Trail, have been NNPs for more than 12 years and work 24-hour shifts rotating between four hospitals, most of which have neonatalogists on staff.
“We rotate to different hospitals to maintain our skills and work with neonatalogists,” says Pollock. “It’s a great way to maintain the skills smaller hospitals like Rowan need.”
Snyder says only the most experienced in the program rotate at Rowan. “In more difficult situations, you’re more on your own. Neonatalogists are more than an hour away,” Snyder says.
David Smith, Rowan Regional’s medical director, says the hospital is working toward having physician neonatalogists on site.
“The nurse practitioners bring a new dimension and advanced practice medicine to our care,” Smith says. “These individuals are there in a moment’s notice.”
Pollock says Rowan doesn’t have very many sick babies born at the hospital.
“But you always want to be prepared,” she says. “We are there when it does happen and can provide the special care they need.”
Garzoni and Snyder both have more than 20 years of experience working with babies, including intensive care nursery experience.
“Watching the babies go home is the best,” says Snyder.
“I enjoy helping the babies because they can’t help themselves. They can’t tell you what’s wrong,” says Garzoni. “I’m not just helping one person, I’m helping a family.”