ideas for special projects

[nell]

Okay, time to share. What special projects do you or someone else, do for your patients/parents/unit?

To get things started, here's one I do:

Stick-on sunglasses.

Parents are often upset that their baby's eyes are covered. With these "sunglasses", it looks more like the babies are basking on the beach.

If you like them, you can download them at: http://pages.sbcglobal.net/hsgrammens/sunglasses.html. Be forewarned: they're large files.

[OBNURSEHEATHER]

Wow Nell, that is unique! We usually have a bili light or 2 going in the normal newborn nursery, and that does seem to be a concern of most of the parents. What a cute idea!

Heather

[researchrabbit]

That's adorable!!! :)

[KRVRN, BSN, RN]

We sometimes draw lines curved like a closed eye with eyelashes on our bili masks.

[Anaclaire]

Oh Nell, those are absolutely precious !!! I've downloaded them and hope to be able to print some out. I not a computer whiz at all... if you hadn't mentioned to "right click and save picture as" I'd not have known how to do it!!!

Thanks again!!

Kristy, I think the idea of drawing sleeping eyes on the bilimasks is really cute too--- and anyone can do that very easily. Do you use a sharpie marker or something like that?

I've put on my thinking cap and will share anything I can think of with you all too.

Anaclaire

[EXOTIC NURSE, RN]

that was a very cute idea for sure.......see how innovative we nurses are for the care and concern of our patients ....we deserve much kudossssssss........

[Brownbetty]

That is a great idea, I am going to bring this to my units attention. Although I may have to wait a bit, I just started this Monday

[nell]

Come on y'all! There must be something special that someone does on your unit.

Here's one I heard about: A "foot-print wall" Boys' footprints in blue and girls' in pink of course! The baby's first name is written on the wall by the print. Many parents videotape the process and most baby pictures are taken in front of the wall. They also stamp an angel on the wall for lost pregnancies.

The wall is in the background of pictures on the hospital's website at:

http://www.andersonhospital.org/newarrivals.htm

[mark_LD_RN]

i used to give out little hand made felt bears .blue im a boy and pink i am a girl bears.:)

[nell]

Mark,

I like the bears! Were they one flat piece of felt or 2 layers with stuffing? Stuffed ones would be more like teddy bears, but flat ones would go into baby books better.

What does everyone think?

Maybe write the vital stats on the back?

[Anaclaire]

The ideas so far are great!!!

Here are a couple of things we did at the NICU I worked at in Georgia:

Each holiday we would get enough t-shirts for all the babies and use fabric paint or iron-on prints to signify the holiday. On the morning of the holiday we would put them on the babies in time for their parents to see them when they came to visit. If the baby wasn't able to wear his/hers we simply placed it in the bed with the baby or taped it onto the radiant heat warmer bed. Parents enjoyed them and would often take them home to show friends and relatives. Many said they would keep them as keepsakes.

One nurse had a husband who looked like Santa, beard and belly and all! He would come up there on Christmas Eve and we'd let him hold each "holdable" baby while we took a Polaroid photo of them. If he couldn't hold the baby, he'd stand beside their bed for the photo. The photo would be presented to the parents on their Christmas Day visit (or later if they didn't make it on Christmas). We'd tape the photo to the baby's bed so the parents could see it as they arrived. It was always a treat for us to see their faces. We did, however, have to find out first if the parents were accepting of the Santa tradition. We had a few parents who's religion didn't condone Santa (Jehovas Witnesses I believe were one...) so we wouldn't offend them.

Our Red Cross Volunteers, who supplied our unit with baby hats and angel gowns, would make up a special batch of red crocheted hats with white pom-poms for the babies to have on Christmas day too.

I guess most all NICUs save the first gradufeed bottle the baby fed from or the first milk syringe and tied it with a pink or blue ribbon and use a sharpie marker to record the name and date of first feeding. Our parents love these little "growth markers" as they enjoy seeing any progress their baby makes.

When we renovated our NICU, our new ceiling was lower and had special sound-reduction panels placed in it. The panels were designed with different sized star shapes carved into them. When a baby would be discharged, we would paint in one star with gold-yellow paint and show it to the parents on their next visit. We tried to paint a star near where the baby's bed was last placed.

If I can think of any more, I'll share...:balloons:

[nell]

Great ideas Anaclaire!

I particularly like this one:

I guess most all NICUs save the first gradufeed bottle the baby fed from or the first milk syringe and tied it with a pink or blue ribbon and use a sharpie marker to record the name and date of first feeding. Our parents love these little "growth markers" as they enjoy seeing any progress their baby makes.

Would you believe I've never seen that in any NICU I've worked in? I guess it's time the practice spread to the West Coast!

Thanks.:)