One of eight babies in this country is born prematurely. Some will be under intensive care for months, while worried parents wait and wonder how their newborn is doing.
At the University of Virginia’s Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit, nurses are trying something new to ease the anxiety of families and build trust with the medical team.
Halima Walker sits in a rocking chair, holding her daughter Cora. The baby was born at 23 weeks, weighing under two pounds and has been in neo-natal intensive care for more than 3 months.
“I had lost a set of twins and lost a little girl, so for me it was just very joyous. She was really small, she was really red. I really feel bad that I can’t be with her 24/7, but I chose to go back to work so that I could save my family medical leave for when she comes home.”
To ease the pain of separation, she visits after work, and at night, when she and her husband can check in by Skype. Nurses like Kam Aulie place an iPad on a tripod, allowing new parents to watch as the baby goes through her bedtime routine.
“A time when you’re changing the diaper, taking the temperature, or holding the baby up, they’re just alking to the baby – just very excited to be able to do what they would do if they were here face to face.”
UVA has been tracking the impact of Skype for more than two years and hopes to learn whether this electronic connection improves relations between parents and the people caring for their kids.
“We really wanted to find a way to communicate well with parents and nurses and physicians to build relationships and get to know each other, so that we could make decisions better, and parents can feel like they’re part of the team.” That’s Beth Epstein, an associate professor of nursing at UVA. She knows leaving an infant in the neo-natal intensive care unit is hard.
“Dropping off your baby at daycare is difficult, so leaving them when they’re sick and vulnerable in a NICU with 100 different nurses and 10 different doctors – that’s got to be really, really stressful, and so anything we can do to build relationships is a step in the right direction.”
Recently, she adds, Skype allowed the newest member of a family to meet the oldest in what would become an especially meaningful moment for the baby’s mother.
“She had been able to Skype with her grandfather – the baby’s great grandfather, who was very ill, and he was able to see his great granddaughter, and he died the next day. She absolutely needed that moment. “
UVA has applied for a grant to expand the program, soon to be described in the American Journal of Critical Care. .
