Ad-Lib tour of NICU
We got the chance to visit the Icelandic NICU. Margaret (an Icelandic Nursing student) was our tour-guide. Margaret is amazing! She once was a lay midwife in the Icelandic countryside, before getting into Informatics. I was impressed looking at the reports and statistics the women had prepared for us before we came. They compiled a tidy list of the average number of births & infant mortality rates. They also told us where children were sent for special care. Surprisingly, they utilize the US quite often. They simply place the sick child and the nursing/medical staff on board a plane and deliver them to the US.
They have no formalized security system for their NICU; No babies behind thick glass or parents with matching security shackles. I was shocked and warmed by this.
Other differences? None of the windows have screens (lucky for them…….no mosquitoes), the clinicians wear open-toed shoes, and when the staff need to get to the other side of the campus, they hop on a foot-scooter. There were two parked in the NICU by the coat rack. AMAZING!
Jamie Sweet
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