We are now in front of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. In order to access
the NICU, you need to use the phone to the left of the door, it will ring in automatically.
A unit clerk will answer it, and if you have permission to
see your baby, you will then be allowed in.
Let's go in.
Welcome to the NICU. Along with Purell alcohol washes, there's a full scrub,
which will be expected for those who wish to wash their hands upon
entering the NICU. We will now move to the right, and go visit a typical pod in the NICU.
The St. Mike's NICU is currently a 20 bed NICU that has a
capacity to overflow to 24 patients total.
St. Mike's NICU is a 20 bed unit with the capacity to handle 24 patients.
It is arranged in pods, so each pod or area will hold between three to five patients.
This open space design allows for good nursing access
and peer-to-peer support for parents.
We'll now visit a typical pod, so that you have an idea of what it looks like.
In this pod right now, three isolettes and one bassinet.
Thankfully it's a sunny day, so you have some nice access to some natural sunshine.
Parents are welcome here of course 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Typically, nurses are on a one-to-three or window for assignment.
If your baby is sicker, they'll be on a smaller assignment such
as one-to-two or one-to-one. Why don't we turn around and visit another part of the NICU,
the breast pump room. The breast pump room on your left is a place where
women can go and pump in privacy. There's five chairs and five kits, just talk to
your nurse about how to arrange the rental of one of these kits. You can also
obviously pump at the bedside. The other room that might be of interest to you is
our care by parent room. Let's take a walk now and have a quick look
at one of our care by parent rooms.
It's just around to the left, and this is a room that is used by parents for
one or two nights prior to going home with their baby. For some families this
room is a useful space to practice looking after their baby prior to going home.
This helps to alleviate a lot of stress, and to reinforce the fact that, yes, mom and dad,
you can look after this baby yourself. Along this hall are also storage rooms,
equipment room, parent washroom etc. Just over here on the right is one of our
care-by-parent rooms. So this room has a pullout sofa bed, a chair
a full bathroom, small fridge etc. Think of it as a hotel room where you can look
after your baby by yourself in the comfort and security of the NICU prior
to going home with your baby. And that's it.