May 2021
Christina
Bell
,
RN
NICU
Woman's Hospital
Baton Rouge
,
LA
United States
Christina spent the entire weekend working with this mom.The mom felt much more confident with the care for her baby and also in herself.
Christina is a nurse in the NICU. She was the primary nurse for a baby who had been in the unit for several weeks. The mother of the baby had a learning disability. I am not sure of her actual mental level but she appeared to be on the level of about a third-grader. Christina had to do all the discharge teaching for this mom to bring home an infant from the NICU. This infant had special formula to be mixed and special needs. This mother had a difficult time taking care of herself let alone a baby. Christina had the "patience of Job" teaching this mom. The mother asked Christina if she needed to take the baby's clothes off in order to give him a bath. Christina struggled throughout the night trying to teach this mother. She decided to enlist her neonatal care tech who has an education in early childhood education. Together they were able to make charts to help the mother remember all the tasks that were needed to care for her baby. The charts gave mom a "to do" side and a "done" side and she was able to move a clip to the done side when she finished the task. The mom was so excited and felt proud of herself when she was able to move her clip to the done side. Christina spent the entire weekend working with this mom. I have to again state that she never lost her patience with the mom. The mom felt much more confident with the care for her baby and also in herself. I feel that Christina's efforts to teach this mom definitely went above and beyond the expectations.