Four nurses at the MCGHealth Children’s Medical Center are the first in the nation to become certified by the National Certification Corporation in neonatal pediatric transport.

Neonatal Transport Nurses Linda Wise, Patty Parker and Deborah Wall, and Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Mary Lacey were among the 306 health care professionals, including nurses, nurse practitioners, respiratory therapists, paramedics and physicians, who successfully completed the inaugural credentialing process for the subspecialty, to earn the prestigious new C-NPT certification.

“Families trust the Neonatal Transport Team at MCGHealth Children’s Medical Center with their most precious cargo – their babies. Achieving this milestone demonstrates that our transport team will stop at nothing to maintain that trust,” said Barbara Meeks, Vice President of Pediatric Patient Care Services for MCGHealth, which operates the region’s only children’s hospital. “The fact that our nurses are the first in the nation for this designation reinforces MCGHealth’s leadership in providing quality pediatric care.”

Linda Wise (l-r), Deborah Wall and
 Patty Parkerwere among the first
in the nationto recently earn
C-NPT credentials from the
National Certification Corporation.
The three are neonatal transport
nurses at the MCGHealth
Children’s Medical Center.
Also earning the certification
was Mary Lacey (not pictured),
a neonatal nurse practitioner at
the MCGHealth Children’s Medical Center.

 The C-NPT training program required participants to demonstrate competency in more than 10 specialized areas of neonatal pediatric transport, including:

• Identifying life-threatening states and initiating appropriate interventions.
• Formulating and implementing a plan of care in collaboration with physicians and other health care professionals.
• Evaluating benefits and risks of diagnostic and therapeutic interventions.
• Understanding the impact of transport physiology on both the neonatal/pediatric patient population and the accompanying transport team members.
• Applying safety principles of transport as applicable to both the neonatal/pediatric patient population and the accompanying transport members.      
• Recognizing the psychosocial aspects of pediatric/neonatal transport and potential impact on the family.
• To maintain the C-NPT credential, the nurses must retest every three years or earn a minimum of 15 continuing education hours in the Neonatal Pediatric Transport specialty.

The National Certification Corporation (NCC) is a not-for-profit organization that provides national credentialing programs. The NCC has certified more than 80,000 health care professionals in women’s health, obstetric and neonatal specialty areas since its inception in 1975. The NCC is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies, the accreditation body of the National Organization for Competency Assurance.

MCG Health, Inc. (d/b/a MCGHealth) is a not-for-profit corporation operating the MCGHealth Medical Center, MCGHealth Children’s Medical Center, the Georgia Radiation Therapy Center, and related outpatient facilities and services throughout the state.  For more information, please visit mcghealth.org.