One of the clinical problems that I see in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is nurses and healthcare staff becoming complacent in their environments because it is a job and the passion is lost allowing the nurse to move through the motions. We are all guilty in many professions, not just nursing, of treating people matter of fact and we forget it may be our hundredth experience, but it is their first experience, no matter what the experience is. When we approach any person, especially in our nursing experience, we have to approach them with kindness and passion. We as nurses cannot continue to eat our young (the new nurses coming to work) and continue to treat our patients as if we need to move on to our next task. Our body language, tone of voice and facial expressions give away our genuineness. We are all busy, but we have to put that aside and go back to compassion and empathy, thinking about how we want to be treated in this situation if we were in it. We have to utilize our critical thinking to see what level of care that parent needs to get through this situation at hand.
One problem that I see is infant readiness for oral feeding of the premature baby. There are different opinions on the expertise of how it is done. Being able to see the situation first hand as a mother and then being able to see it as a professional, made me aware of not only my actions but others around me. My son was given breast milk initially via NG Tube until he was ready to try a bottle. Initially, the bottle feeding was started once per day and increased and they would leave the bottle-feeding for when the parents were there to feed the baby to create that bonding experience. One day I arrived at the NICU on a weekend ready to spend the entire day with my son and getting to feed him several times per day. The shift nurse that I had never met said that I was feeding my son wrong. She took over the feeding entirely and when the rest of the feedings occurred that day, she took over because she stated that I was making the baby aspirate due to my inexperience. I was only allowed to hold him. When the change of shift occurred, she said okay time to go, I stated that we were in a private room and the nurses close the door so that we do not have to leave during the change of shift. We were in a private room because at one point the baby had developed a hospital-borne infection called Serratia and he had to remain there until discharge. Staying in the room was an arrangement that I made with upper management due to the fact that I worked full time as did my husband and we did not have much visiting time with him during the week. She proceeded about her business and ripped the baby right out of my arms.
I cried for days until Monday came and I made a complaint to my head nurse who assured me that this was documented in my chart right on the front. She showed me the chart and stated that she would speak to the nurse about her abruptness. The weekend nurse assigned apologized to us a few days later, but by then my feelings were already crushed. It was later discovered that the baby was aspirating even when he was fed via g-tube it had nothing to do with how I was holding or feeding him. It was inevitable. In the end, it was decided that the baby would have a Mickey G-tube inserted surgically for feedings to expedite his discharge home.
When discussing with peers, the Colorado model seemed appropriate because it has a patient-centered focus. In the NICU, the focus is not only on the baby but the parents, they become your patients, too. In this instance, the issue that I experienced was discussed and it came to be known, that yes, as nurses we can have the one-track mind of getting things done and checked off a list. There is a lot that happens in the NICU that is unexpected, so the less that can be focused on that is routine, the better. Nurses can do things better, faster and with expertise, but is it really better? Parents would say no because they are left out of the important equation in the Colorado model. The Colorado model discusses that patients should have some control or personal choice in decision making, whether for personal preferences religious or cultural decisions (Goode, Fink, Krugman, Oman, & Traditi, 2010).
References
Goode, C. J., Fink, R. M., Krugman, M., Oman, K. S., & Traditi, L. K. (2010, August 10). The Colorado patient-centered interprofessional evidence-based practice model: A framework for transformation. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 96-105.
The specific gap in practice in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is the challenge that parents face when they are discharged home. The underlying assumptions of these issues include a lack of confidence to be able to take care of the baby, not enough information to understand the machines, a lack of practice time, and increased readmission rates to the hospital within 30 days of discharge from the NICU. Regarding the population parents of premature babies, the argument that is most often heard from the nurses and the NICU team is that the parents have been in the NICU watching the nurses for the last five to seven months and they should be able to take care of their infant (Hutchinson, Spillett, & Cronin, 2012).
The parents of premature babies have a higher stress level when the babies are discharged due to not receiving specific education to ease the transition home (Busse, Stromgren, Thorngate, & Thomas, 2013). In Miles’s (1994) study conducted via the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) following discharge from the NICU, it proved that there was a higher stress level for parents when they were discharged home. Premature infant readmissions were analyzed and it was determined that there was a 31% readmission rate to the NICU. The parents needed to be taught skills on how to avoid re-hospitalization (Hutchinson et al., 2012).
Premature babies were being born daily with multiple medical conditions that carried long term through the span of their lives. When they were transitioned to their homes, they required management of their special needs in the home setting. The transition program began 30 days before the baby was discharged to the home. If the teaching was not done prior to the discharge home, then when they went home, the baby was susceptible to errors made at home with medications, infection control, or treatment in general.
When a baby is taken home from the regular nursery it is noted to be a scary time for parents due to the newness of being a parent. For a parent of a premature baby, the anxiety increases especially if the baby had a long NICU stay. The parents are accustomed to having the nurses there for support but when they go home, they feel alone.
The proposed solution for this gap in service is the implementation of a NICU navigator tool kit. The toolkit is designed to help hospital nurses, doctors, therapists, social workers, and parents communicate more effectively towards reducing the parent’s anxiety surrounding their baby’s discharge to the home. The presentation of the NICU patient navigator toolkit contains evidence-based studies and real-life examples to demonstrate the toolkit’s necessity in the NICU.
References
Busse, M., Stromgren, K., Thorngate, L., & Thomas, K. (2013, August). Parent responses to stress: PROMIS in the NICU. Critical Care Nurse,33(4), 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.4037/ccn2013715
Hutchinson, S. W., Spillett, M. A., & Cronin, M. (2012). Parents’ experiences during their infant’s transition from neonatal intensive care unit to home: A qualitative study. The Qualitative Report, 17(23), 1-20. Retrieved from http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR17/hutchinson.pdf
Ms. Lara Spencer Good Morning America Laughs at Prince George
When I was in grammar school I was the only dark-skinned Latina in my Catholic grammar school. My parents worked hard to provide their only daughter with the best education they could. But I didn’t fit in. I had two friends in grammar school that I played with; they were both Cuban but light-skinned, blonde and brunette. Whenever our classmates saw us they called us the black and white tv. “Why tv”? I’m not sure. But it broke all three of our hearts. Thankfully this did not carry through high school or college; I was glad to leave this stigma behind. I managed to graduate college and work in the real world.
In a high-risk hospital, I encountered a professional stigma, nurses against aides and techs. I wanted to do a good job and help my patients. I worked with everyone, but yet, the nurses said, “you are one of us, you should not socialize at lunch/dinner with the techs or aides.” The techs/aides would say “you are a nurse but you are Latina and you need to be with your people and the African American staff.” As for the doctors, well, they were in their own world-but I got along with them, they were too busy for stigmas.
I quickly learned life’s lessons in the business world. I took on jobs where women were in power struggles: some of the older women had no respect for younger women and vise Versa. The level of your position made a difference as to who you socialized with. People forgot we were there to take care of the sick.
And then it happened, I was thrown into the world of Pageantry. What me? I’m the shorts and flip flops girl!
I became a mom of a preemie, gained 50 lbs. due to the stress of a boss who said she hated people, thought there was something wrong with my learning ability, had no respect for people, and thought reading books was a waste of time let alone writing one. I cried daily at my desk as a result of the bullying and stress this woman caused me. Until one day my doctor said “You need to lose weight, lower your blood pressure and change your eating habits or you may find yourself in an early grave. This started a healthy journey for me. I had to live for my son, my husband but most importantly, me. I had to love myself because God loved me and He had a plan for my life.
Most of my close friends knew I was never a public speaker nor did I desire to share my testimony publicly. I was actually very shy. I used to sing as a child and through my teens until one day someone said to me, “you look silly singing in the church choir.” I allowed someone’s criticism to ruin my privilege to serve the Lord through worship. I hid behind dance because I could express myself and not use my voice to speak to others about Jesus and what He did in my life.
He took control of my life. I went through trial after trial until one day He inspired me to write my testimony in my very first book, titled A Story of Faith. I thought that was sufficient, but it wasn’t. He continued to give me test after test and each one became a testimony. He gave me divine appointments to speak to women who were going through difficult situations. I started to seek the Lord’s guidance, asking Him to fill my mouth with the right words to empower young and older women.
I thought to myself never will I lose 50 lbs! But through eating properly, training with a trainer, and God’s motivation, someone noticed. An acquaintance said, “You know if you get involved in a pageant you can reach a diverse audience that will learn about your charity and help you spread the word about the Gift of Life.” I thought, “No one cares about pageants” (I certainly didn’t) until I tested out the theory.
I emailed a hotel the year prior to becoming a pageant queen asking for a donation to the Gift of Life and received a reply, “we don’t have any donations at this time, but try again next year”. So the next year I sent an email, copying the same email, but signing my name as Mrs. Windermere. This was the start of a shift in favor of people. This time around, I not only received approval for a donation, but the donation was more than I expected; a weekend getaway package to auction off at our Gala. The pageantry gave me (“just Rosie Moore”) celebrity status almost overnight.
My first ever competition was an eye-opener. I felt alone amongst women who were beautiful, wealthy and eager to push any competitor out of their way. I once again experienced exclusion because of my skin color and heritage as a Latina. I was done with pageantry, one time was enough for me.
Someone
in the audience noticed me at the pageant with all the bad experience. She saw something beyond my heritage; she saw
that I had a platform plus a genuine love of people. She convinced me to try again so I prepared
for a year and qualified to be Mrs. Windermere International.
This time things were different. My peers voted me Mrs. Congeniality and I received the Community Service Award. The following year, I went on to represent Mrs. Michigan International of which I had the opportunity to not only crown my successor but to share my testimony regarding the Gift of Life.
Today, I am the reigning “Mrs. Southern States International I have the ability to share my testimony, the Gift of Life and my faith in Jesus! What I learned is that there is only one winner in the eyes of man. But, in the eyes of God, we are all winners.
It’s easy for us to fall into the same treatment we receive from others and although it hurts and we want to hurt others with the same measure, we must resist hurting others with criticism because of our own wounds. We will have a great reward as long as we believe God has us in His hands.
This is why it pains me to hear on national television a grow woman Good Morning America” host Lara Spencer, bullying a 6-year-old boy and eliciting laughter from the audience and co-hosts because he is taking ballet. What is so funny about that? Would she have had the same sarcastic remark had it been a little girl? Prince George will be able to make that decision as an adult for himself one day when he decides what his career path should be. As a dancer who has taken ballet and danced in ballet productions, I know the importance of this being the foundation for any style of dance. I encourage Lara Spencer to google famous ballet dancers and what they have brought to the world of entertainment, Mikhail Baryshnikov is one that comes to mind. Ballet is the foundation of any style of dance, a dancer is recognized by his or her training in ballet because the way that they carry their posture stands out. Football players take ballet not only to help them be flexible in their sport but ballet improves their focus by helping them concentrate on precise movements needed in football. Ballet has been proven to boost the concentration, improve memory, and helps people to understand music and rhythm which ultimately can improve body awareness and physical control. If you have a tendency to be clumsy, ballet training can help improve that. Not everyone who takes ballet or any style of dance will become a world-famous dancer, but the opportunity to allow someone to express themselves through dance does wonder. That is why in a major study it has been proven that when you stimulate your mind by dancing, it can increase cognitive ability, therefore, decreasing the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s or dementia.
So to Ms. Lara Spencer of Good Morning America, choose your words wisely the next time that you are sharing news or a story because your words are a double edge sword that can be hurtful to someone who is listening. I used to like watching Good Morning America and hearing the stories that were shared, but now I am appalled that Good Morning America would allow this type of bullying of a child to take place on national television.
Do you ever think about how many times per day you say that you are too busy? Too busy to talk on the phone to an old friend, too busy to go to the gym, too busy to hear how your child’s day was at school, or too busy to volunteer? If you find yourself saying this too often, we can miss out on the blessings and miracles of life. I personally used to be guilty of over-committing and never saying no. When I realized that I was not being as productive, I started to plan out my days and I am happy to say that I enjoy on a daily basis the blessings of seeing the sunrise. To have the ability to admire the blue skies each and every morning is a blessing. If that morning it is raining and I do not see the sunrise, I enjoy the raindrops.
I enjoy the blessing of being able to speak to people daily and listen to their stories and concerns. Sometimes a person just needs a listening ear for support. We cannot fix everyone’s problems, but it is amazing how some problems can be corrected by listening to a person and then that person comes up with a solution just from sharing with someone willing to listen.
My favorite thing in life to do is to enjoy the blessing of quiet moments with God. In the stillness and quiet of my home when no one is around except the wind blowing the windchime, I can recharge my batteries for the day. So the next time that you think you are too busy, stop and think about what can you rearrange and spend less time on. Can you schedule things on a calendar and not give yourself more than you can do in a day. There is a feeling of accomplishment when you can check something off your to-do list when you only give yourself what you can do in a day.
I think that this is a hard decision for any mother to make when she is told that her baby may not be viable. I can see several ethical things here that would make a decision difficult to make. First of all, there is the termination of the pregnancy recommended because the baby will not be viable at birth, and then there is the religious aspect. These are both ethical situations that can be very difficult for parents when they have to make a decision. Doctors make decisions based on the viability of a baby and feel that if the baby will not make it, the pregnancy should be terminated. In a Christian hospital, for example, these conversations may not happen, because they do not do terminations of pregnancy, so that suggestion would not be made. However, at a non-Christian hospital, that type of discussion may happen there frequently.
Each hospital should have an ethics team to explain the choices to the mother so that a mother that does not believe in termination is aware that she does have the right to keep the baby until he passes. Allowing the parents to use their own judgment in a case like this, provides for better healing as they cope with the impending loss. The termination of a pregnancy before its time is devastating to any parent. A parent’s religious beliefs in the Lord keep them holding on for a possible miracle and we should not interfere in their decision making. If the miracle does not happen, those parents will find the way to grieve the loss but at least they were offered a choice and will not have to worry that the choice was not given to them and they will not have to live with the “what ifs.” This would be their way of coping with the death of that child (Denisco & Barker, 2012).
References
Denisco, S. M., & Barker, A. M. (2012). 25. In Advanced practice nursing: Evolving rules for the transformation of the profession (2nd ed., pp. 547-567). Retrieved from https://campus.capella.edu/web/library/home
