Neonatology nurses are guardians at the bedside
"In the NICU we are dealing with building relationships. First we want to
manage and overcome the physical crisis that brought the child to us, but we're
also about helping families come together. Nurses provide our families with
consistency throughout their stay at Children's Memorial."
— Paul Ocon, RN, MPA, former administrator of
Critical Care.
More vulnerable and dependent than healthy newborns, all of Children's
Memorial neonatal patients enter the world too early or without the ability to
perform such simple functions as breathing on their own. In many cases, these
babies had to be transported to Children's Memorial in an emergency, before the
parents had an opportunity to welcome their new child. Whether this is a first
or fifth child, it is an unsettling time for families.
Fostering parent-child relationships
In addition to their vital clinical role, nurses are instrumental in helping
foster nurturing parent-child relationships in the NICU during this definitive
family moment.
As the purveyors of perpetual care, NICU nurses spend hours at a time with
the newborns-observing, monitoring their vital signs, administering tests and
medicine, feeding and changing them.
These permanent bedside guardians navigate and guide parents through the
strange and unfamiliar territory of the NICU. They translate the language of
disease, procedures and test results into words that parents can understand.
They give voice to a speechless child's needs and wants. They learn to recognize
and interpret the intricacies of each infant's behaviors, habits, likes and
dislikes, and teach parents to do the same.
Ironically, the very same technology that is saving their child's life can
make it difficult for parents to get close, physically and emotionally, to their
newborn. Nurses help parents overcome their fears and apprehension by modeling
confidence and maneuvering among the tangle of intravenous tubes and
gastro-intestinal lines with amazing strength, grace and ease. Through the
technology, tubes and tape, NICU nurses urge parents to take on the rituals of
newborn care and watch as families grow together.