Remember when we used to tape black and white “visual stim” cards inside the isolette because we thought it was a good thing?
Or when we fed babies at 3pm because they had an order to PO feed once a shift, not because they were cueing to eat?
Or when premature babies were literally restrained so they ‘didn’t pull their tubes out’? (Or when they were positioned so poorly that you couldn’t tell if they were prone or supine at first glance?)
Yea. I remember too.
And the thing is, there’s no shame in being where we were at that time. We were operating on the latest information. Or sometimes we were following long-standing practices that had never been questioned.
And we can take on some guilt around these things. We can say, “What did we do to babies back then?” The answer is: we did exactly our best with the information that was available to us.
The same is true in every patient population.
We simply do what we know to be best at the time. Or what has been proven at that time to be the best option. Then we continue to research. We listen to patients and their outcomes (and/or to their families if they’re nonverbal like our patients). We learn. We evolve. We do better.
What practice(s) do you and your NICU need to let go of?
What’s stopping you from improving?
Don’t let it be guilt. Or pride. (And there are plenty of inexpensive resources.)
Just learn. And do better tomorrow. Someone’s life depends on it.
