17th November is World Prematurity Day
Posted on: 17/11/23
17th November is World Prematurity Day 💜
Today we join many others around the world to raise awareness of the 15 million babies born too soon each year. In Aotearoa New Zealand, 1 in 10 babies are born premature, and in Te Tai Tokerau Northland, those babies are often cared for in the SCBU at Whangārei Hospital.
The following interview with India Judkins, Registered Nurse at Te Whatu Ora in Te Tai Tokerau, describes a day in the life of a Special Care Baby Unit Nurse.
If you'd like to show your support and help to purchase optional extras for the new SCBU at Whangārei hospital, over and above what government funding provides, please click the donate button at the top of the page and choose 'Health Fund PLUS - Whangarei Children's Ward fund' or contact us to talk through how you can help.
When does your shift start?
If I am on a day shift my day starts at 7am and if I am on a night shift my day starts at 7pm. We generally do 12-hour shifts in Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU).
What is a typical morning routine for you?
My typical morning routine would be to arrive at work at 6:30, make a coffee and read through the SCBU handover sheet with my colleagues. We then do patient allocations and then have a general chat with the team of nurses I am on shift with before we head into the unit for bedside handover.
What do your main duties entail?
One of my main day-to-day duties is feeding. Feeding babies in SCBU isn’t as simple as it would seem. It entails lots of education and support for mums in helping them breastfeed or bottle feed their baby. If the baby is unable to take oral feeds, then we give nasogastric feeds or intravenous nutrition. Feeding SBCU babies requires specialised assessment skills, knowledge, and patience to ensure our babies have a positive and safe feeding experience.
Other duties I perform on a typical day are hygiene and caring for our babies. Assessment of and care for babies on various forms of respiratory support, including oxygen therapy, High Flow, and CPAP. Administration of various types of medication. Liaising with other healthcare services that our babies may require and working within an MDT to ensure all of the babies and their family’s needs are met. Lots and lots of Whānau support and education about what is happening for their baby in SCBU, how to care for them in SCBU, recognising their baby’s cues and safe sleep, recognising signs of unwellness and CPR education.
What is the favourite part of your day?
My favourite part of my day is meeting new families that have had their baby admitted to SCBU, or catching up with families I have already met about how their baby has been progressing since I was last at work. I love hearing families talk about the successes their baby has been having such as weight gains, feeding improvements and reductions in various medical supports.
What do you love about your job
It makes me feel so privileged to work in SCBU in these moments where I can see families grow confident in their care for their babies, and I encourage families to see even the smallest steps forward as a great win.
What are some of the challenges you face?
One big challenge in SCBU is looking past the fact that the baby is a patient in a medical environment and remembering that they are also a baby that needs to have cuddles and positive sensory input and rides in a pram and stories read to them. When I am looking after an unwell baby, I have to rethink the care I provide to move away from the tasks I need to complete and make sure I am meeting their developmental needs also.
Lots of procedures and cares in SCBU are not positive for the baby as there is often noise and bright lights and painful procedures so it is really important for us to make sure there are lots of positive experiences and stimulus for the baby and whanau too.
Another challenge that is faced is providing culturally safe care in times when intense medical care is required for the baby. Cultural safety and whānau involvement is extremely important to us in SCBU.
We constantly work to build rapport with our families and put them at the forefront of their babies’ care – I often tell them that they are the driver of their journey in SCBU. It is often a challenge in critical times to ensure we are being culturally safe when decisions are being made very quickly and care being needed just as quickly.
When finishing your shift, how do you wind down?
If I have had a particular challenging shift, one of my ways to wind down is debriefing with my colleagues, or just having a general chat. I am very grateful to work with such a special and tight knit team of nurses. Not only do they offer me constant support in the unit, but they are also wonderful friends.
Share a memory that sums up why you do what you do:
A memory that always resonates with me is the time I helped a long term Neonatal Intensive Care Unit/ Special Care Baby Unit baby have a successful breastfeed for the first time – I will always remember the mum’s face filled with joy. They had had such a long journey in hospital where the baby could not feed for a long time – it was a privilege to support mum and baby in this special milestone.
https://littlemiraclestrust.org.nz/about-us/world-prematurity-day-17th-november/
To all of the staff who care for the babies in the neonatal units, a heartfelt thanks for your hard work, your patience and dedication, and the care you take of our precious babies and their whānau.
You are all amazing!
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