The Certified Neonatal Therapist title is not just a credential that demonstrate excellence, but it provides access to current evidence that comes out each month. As neonatal therapists, we rely on evidenced-based practice to ensure that the care we provide for infants and families in the NICU is safe and effective. However, as a busy clinician it can be a challenge to try and keep up-to-date with all of the papers that are published each year with relevant research findings. Quite simply, most of us do not have the time to sit and search relevant databases every month for new evidence from across the breadth of neonatal therapy practice.
And no wonder, as there is an increasing amount of neonatal therapy related evidence published each year. In 2019 there were 377 relevant papers published, arising from 40 countries, published in 179 different journals! And that is before we even consider reviewing the quality of the papers which include experimental, cohort, qualitative and mixed-method research, evidence reviews, consensus papers, and quality improvement initiatives.
One of the benefits of becoming a Certified Neonatal Therapist via the Neonatal Therapy National Certification Board, is that we make this process of accessing up-to-date evidence so much easier for you. CNTs gain access to a comprehensive resource of current year titles and abstracts from across 11 different domains of neonatal therapy practice. These are updated monthly throughout the year, as more papers are published. You will also have access to reference lists for research papers relevant to neonatal therapy that date back to 2015, with more than 2000 articles available at your fingertips.
And for those of you considering applying to become a Certified Neonatal Therapist in the first cycle of 2020, we are again offering our flash drive incentive. The next application period to apply to become a Certified Neonatal Therapist is open from March 15th until May 15th, 2020. New applicants who start the process of application will receive a flash drive containing more than 50 full text key reference papers to help you prepare for the Neonatal Therapy National Certification examination. However, this is only while supplies last, so make sure you apply early to ensure you have access to this wonderful resource…once they are gone, we will not be offering this incentive again!
Thank you to all CNTs who have already made the commitment to excellence! We hope that other PTs, OTs and SLPs providing neonatal therapy services will become certified, so they can reap the benefits of CNT status, and more importantly, so the infants and families they serve can!
