The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Mercy Medical Center (Level 3.5) is a 20-bed unit with six step-down beds and 24/7 coverage by Neonatal Nurse Practitioners. Mercy has two in-house Attendings as well as visiting Attendings from the University of Maryland Hospital. Orientation of nurses new to the NICU involve being paired with one to two preceptors and is either eight (8) weeks in length (for the experienced nurse) or twelve (12) weeks in length (for the new graduates.) The NICU nurses participate in self-scheduling as well as unit-based committees such as Quality Improvement, Policy and Procedure and Education.