Neonatal Care Essentials 2026: Nursing & Midwifery Study Guide | SCN Certification Prep

Cover image: Person wearing gray shirt putting baby on scale by Christian Bowen used under Unsplash
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,
,Neonatal Care Essentials for Nursing and
Midwifery

,
,NEONATAL CARE ESSENTIALS FOR
NURSING AND MIDWIFERY


JACQUI MCGREGOR


Deakin University
Geelong

,Neonatal Care Essentials for Nursing and Midwifery Copyright © 2025 by Deakin University is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

This book was published by Deakin University via the Council of Australian University Librarians Open Educational
Resources Collective. The online version is available at https://oercollective.caul.edu.au/neonatal-care-essentials

Disclaimer

Note that corporate logos and branding are specifically excluded from the Creative Commons Attribution
NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 Licence of this work, and may not be reproduced under any circumstances without
the express written permission of the copyright holders.

Copyright

Neonatal Care Essentials for Nursing and Midwifery by Jacqui McGregor is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 Licence by Deakin University.

Recommended citation: McGregor, J. (2024). Neonatal Care Essentials for Nursing and Midwifery. Deakin
University. https://oercollective.caul.edu.au/neonatal-care-essentials

Recommended attribution: Neonatal Care Essentials for Nursing and Midwifery by Jacqui McGregor is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 Licence by Deakin University.

Cover image Person wearing gray shirt putting baby on scale by Christian Bowen used under Unsplash licence

,CONTENTS


Acknowledgement of Country ix
About the Author x
Accessibility Information xi
Acknowledgements xiii




Part I. Introduction to Neonatal Care Essentials for Nursing and
Midwifery

Overview 3
Development and Family Centre - Are they Calm? 5




Part II. Transition to Extra-uterine Life

Introduction - Transition 13
Overview of fetal circulation 15
Impediments to transition - The 5Hs 24
Conditions that may impede transition 28
Prematurity and deviations from fetal growth 39
Practices to prevent the 5 H's 51




Part III. Thermoregulation (are they WARM?)

Introduction- Thermoregulation (WARM) 57
Thermoregulation 59
Neonatal Sepsis 69
Management (WARM) 77

,Part IV. Nutrition and feeding (are they SWEET?)

Introduction Nutrition and Feeding-SWEET 89
Nutrition and Feeding 92
Glucose Homeostasis 98
Feeding intolerance 108
Management -SWEET 118




Part V. Oxygenation and Perfusion (are they PINK?)

Overview - Perfusion and oxygenation (PINK) 129
Development of the respiratory system- overview 131
Respiratory distress 135
Neonatal Jaundice 147
Management- PINK 156


Versioning History 165
Glossary and abbreviations 166

, ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY | IX


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY


We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of all the unceded lands, skies and waterways on which
Deakin students and teachers come together. As we learn and teach through virtually and physically
constructed places across time, we pay our deep respect to the Ancestors and Elders of Wadawurrung
Country, Eastern Maar Country and Wurundjeri Country, as well as the Traditional Custodians of all the
lands on which you may be learning and teaching, where education has taken place for many thousands of
years.

, X | ABOUT THE AUTHOR


ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Jacqui McGregor
Deakin University
School of Nursing and Midwifery
Nursing and Midwifery Lecturer
Melbourne Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood VIC 3125

Jacqui has 13 + years of university and lecturing experience. As well as being a dual registered Nurse and
Midwife with clinically relevant experience across both disciplines, she has a Master of Advanced Nursing-
Neonatal, also holding a Post graduate qualification in Neonatal Intensive Care and Higher Education
Teaching and Learning.