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The nursing staff, the medical staff, they made it seem like home.
>> We here at Duke really focus on our families.
>> I think the environment in ICN is very warm.
>> The intensive care units at Duke are top notch.
>> They're actually family to us because they were so caring and so wonderful.
There's no more important contribution than improving a child's life.
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The benefits of coming to the intensive care nursery at
Duke is that we are a level four nursery.
So we provide any level of care the baby may need.
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When a parent or anyone comes in to see a baby in the ICN,
they will check in at the front desk, the HUC.
The first time they're ushered actually back to the bedside by the HUC in most
cases, so they know where to go.
At that point, the nurse is there to greet them and get them chairs.
Kind of orient them to the room.
Once we get them welcomed and settled, we update them as best we can,
answer their questions.
Our ICN does not have individual rooms.
The smallest size room would be a pod of four infants.
We do have the two larger rooms, that are eight infants in each room.
Within the unit, we have curtains that are pulled around the bedside.
We do have chairs that they can extend back and recline, and
when they are at the bedside, we can provide that for them.
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Our ICN is a locked unit.
Parents are allowed and
they can put six people down on a list that can come in with or without them.
Nurses that can be assigned to one baby at a time,
if we were talking about one of the sickest infants.
When the babies are getting better,
a nurse may have two babies assigned to her care.
>> Our providers are on the floor with us 24/7.
>> The nurses stay with the patients all the time.
So they get to know the little details.
Like today, he or she doesn't look the same.
These are the people that we trust to tell us how the baby's doing.
>> We spent 111 days at ICN and the care that we received every single day,
every hour, every second, was great.
We couldn't ask for anything more because from the time we got there to
the time we left, that care was phenomenal.
>> Please know that here, there are physicians and
nurse practitioners 24 hours a day.
It takes a whole team, and more than one team, to take care of your baby.
>> There are several support people who will be there to help encourage you to
ask questions, help you to become more comfortable around your baby, and
help you to learn what can you do to have an impact on your baby,
even while they're receiving care in the intensive care unit.
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>> We have what we call daily rounds and it's when we discuss every little baby.
>> We decide what changes need to be made.
Have they had a good day, had a good night.
How are they progressing with the plan of care thus far and
make changes based on that.
>> It's a teamwork in doing rounds, we have respiratory therapies,
we have pharmacists, nutritionists, we have our nurse practitioners,
resident physicians, our fellows, our attendings.
So it's truly a multidisciplinary round that may include, of course,
the parents that are there as well as the bedside nurse.
You have to think of rounds maybe like a think tank sometimes,
we need to all come together to determine a plan for this child.
>> That's your chance to ask everybody what's going on with my baby.
What more can I do?
>> It is absolutely essential that the parents feel that they are part of
the entire care process.
This is their baby.
They need to be hands on,
they need to understand because in the end the baby's going home with them.
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>> While babies are in the intensive care nursery,
of course they are being watched constantly.
They're being monitored continuously.
The nurses at the bedside will be the people explaining to you what it means,
each item, each cable that's connected to the baby's body.
>> We are reminding parents, look at your baby, not the alarms.
It's our job to look at the alarms and make sure everything's okay, and
if there's not, we're gonna tell you.
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Parents are updated by the providers via phone or the bedside every day.
We let them know what's going on with the baby.
If they've had a good day.
If there's been a change in their medications.
And they can of course, call and speak to us 24/7.
Nurses are always available to answer their questions.
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The first thing parents usually wanna do is just to see the baby.
And one of the things that may not seem like a barrier is the fact that a lot of
times, if they're premature, they're in an isolet so they can't just go in and
touch their baby.
So it's one of the first barriers that we kind of have to overcome with them.
That fear of, perhaps, touching their child if they're young, or little or sick.
>> Please know that that is always in our mind and
as soon as possible that will be our first goal that the baby is held,
because we know that's what babies like best.
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Discharge day's actually a very busy day.
That's the day when you've gotta make sure you've got your medications if you're
going home with medications, they've had a car seat test,
the car seat needs to be at the bedside.
You pack up, you wait for the final exam by the medical doctor.
Charting's in place and head out the door.
It's a celebration for everybody involved.
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