General Information
When your baby is sick, it’s hard to think about everything that needs to be done. Listed in the following sections are the basics you will need to know during your baby’s time in the NICU.
Staying With Your Baby
You can be with your baby as often as you wish. Your baby’s room is their room away from home and has a small area for you to sleep if you wish to stay overnight.
Staying with Your Baby Overnight
Only parents or a designated support person may sleep over in the baby’s NICU room. No more than two people are allowed to stay in the room between 9pm & 6am. No children are allowed to sleep in the baby’s NICU room.
Please keep in mind that your baby has a lighting plan (how the blinds and lights are adjusted) based on gestational age and medical stability. This plan helps your baby learn the difference between night and day. Please be aware that this lighting plan will be in place regardless of family members presence in room. This means that if you are sleeping overnight, the room will be dark. As of 8am blinds and lighting will be adjusted according to your baby's developmental plan. This also means if you are napping during the day and your baby's plan states blinds are to be up during the day, please do not adjust the blinds based on your sleep preferences. You may want to bring a sleep mask if you need a dark room for sleep.
Single Patient Rooms
At Saint Joseph Hospital, we strive to be the leader in the care of critically ill newborns by providing state of the art care in a family supportive environment. Our NICU patient rooms are designed as private rooms with parent/family space at the back of each room. Even though they are designed as single patient rooms, each of our rooms can hold 2 babies. This works very well for twins. Occasionally there are times when a room is shared by unrelated babies/families. When that happens we make every effort to ensure each family’s privacy and comfort.
Please keep your personal belongings in the closet in your baby’s NICU room. It is not safe to leave valuable items in the NICU room. There may be times we must move your baby to another room. If this happens and you are not here to move your belongings we will move them for you.
We ask that you set your ringer to silent/vibrate in order to keep the NICU, and especially your baby’s room, as quiet as possible. Parents may use phones for texting, picture taking and talking. If you do need to accept a call, please remember to speak in a soft “library voice” to limit your baby's exposure to noise. Please do not talk on your phones in the NICU hallways. For safety reasons, your baby’s care team will have their work phone ringers turned on. FaceTime is a nice way for family/siblings to “visit” your baby. Please talk with your baby’s nurse if you would like to FaceTime.
Food is not allowed in your baby’s private NICU room. Drinks are allowed, but must be covered with a lid at all times. Meals and snacks must be eaten in the family lounge or in the café on the first floor. Room refrigerators are for storing breast milk only.
Monitors and Alarms
There are many different monitors and alarms used in the NICU. Your nurse can explain what they are used for. Parents and family members should never silence an alarm or monitor. If the nurse does not immediately appear, do not be alarmed. Your baby’s nurse is able to view your baby’s status from a different area in the NICU.
The Parent Place -
This area, is on the back side of the NICU and is best accessed by turning right out of the elevators and right down the first hall. There is a family lounge, bathrooms and sleep rooms available for your use.
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Boarding Rooms
There are rooms in The Parent Place for parents to stay together overnight. These rooms are not for long term use. These rooms are primarily used by families who do not have a couch/bed in their baby's room. If you are eligible, one of the NICU charge nurses will discuss this with you.
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NICU Room Showers
Showers are available to parents in The Parent Place. The NICU does not provide toiletries (shampoo, soap, deodorant, etc.), but towels will be there for your use. Please clean up after yourself and be respectful of the shower rooms.
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Laundry
Feel free to bring in personal belongings for your baby, like clothes and blankets. Please remember to write the baby’s last name on the item to help make sure it stays with your baby. It will be your responsibility to clean these items.
You are one of the most important members of your baby’s care team, and we want you to be as involved as you can in your baby’s care. We also want you to have your own support network as you learn to care for your baby. The goal of the following guideline is to help you have this support network while giving your baby a safe, quiet and secure environment.
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Parents: You are encouraged to spend as much time with your baby as possible. You are welcome 24 hours a day.
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A mask must be worn in the unit at all times
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A mask must be worn in your baby's room any time a caregiver is present
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Please don't come visit if you are not feeling well
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Visitors who are not parents:
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These visitors must be over the age of 18
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All visitors must wear a mask in the unit and in the patient room any time a caregiver is present
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Siblings: Brothers and sisters of your baby may visit under these circumstances:
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The sibling(s) must be healthy
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The sibling(s) must be able to wear a mask during the entire visit to the NICU (mask may not be removed in your baby's room)
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Parents will sign an acknowledgement form agreeing to only bring healthy siblings
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ALL visitors, including siblings, will be symptom screeded at the front NICU desk upon each entry to the unit and symptom clearence will be logged in our vitisor log.
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Limit on visitors: No more than 4 people are allowed in your baby’s room at one time (including twin rooms: 4 people per room not per patient).
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All visitors must be accompanied by the mother or with whomever has the second baby band
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Parents and siblings count in the total number of people at the bedside.
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All siblings and visitors need to adhere to hosptial visiting hours (8am-8pm)
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Unit Security
The NICU is considered a high security area. There are entrances other than the main entrance into the NICU only for hospital staff that require special badges to get in. There are also security cameras watching the stairwells and hallways throughout the hospital. All hospital staff are required to wear photo ID badges. Staff who are a part of Women’s and Children’s Services and the NICU have pink badges.
Keeping Germs Away from Your Baby
The best way you can keep germs from your baby is to wash your hands. Anyone coming into the NICU should thoroughly clean their cell phone, tablet and laptop with a cleaner available to you. After washing cell phones you need to wash your hands.
In addition to the first hand washing, using a gel hand sanitizer or hand washing should be done:
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Just before touching your baby
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After changing your baby’s diaper
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After touching any cell phones, electronic devices, or community areas surfaces
It might seem like a lot of hand washing, but germs are everywhere and can stay on some surfaces for a long time. Washing your hands is the best way to get rid of those germs and for you to help protect your baby.
All visitors must be free of infection or illness, including a cold, cold like symptoms, diarrhea, fever, cough, cold sores, pink eye or rashes. If you think you are becoming ill, please talk with your baby’s care team. Find out if it is best for you to be near your child, and what you might need to do before and while visiting. Tell us right away if you or any other visitor, has been exposed to or had any diseases such as flu, whooping cough, chicken pox, measles or mumps within the past 3 weeks.
During flu season, visitation is limited so we can protect your baby even more. No one under the age of 18 will be able to visit.
Visiting Guidelines
Your baby’s care team will meet at the bedside to review the plan of care each day. This is called “rounds”. You are encouraged to take part in rounds by asking questions and sharing your observations or concerns. Bedside rounds take place two times each day. Day rounds start at 10:30 am. Night Rounds start at 8:45 pm. Because the medical team spends as much time rounding at each baby’s bed as the parents need to ask questions, it may be an hour or so before we get to your baby’s room.
It is always ok to ask your baby’s doctor, NNP, or nurse about the plan of care for your baby. You can also ask for a family care conference (a meeting away from the bedside to talk about your baby’s condition and the plan of care).
Calling in From Home
If you are at home or outside the unit phone calls are always welcome. You can call and ask to speak to your baby’s nurse at any time.
Please let other family members and friends know that we only give information over the phone about your baby to you, the parents. You will be given a code that nurses will ask for to make sure that the person calling is the parent. Please do not share this code with anyone else.
NICU phone number: 303.812.4442