“Why can’t I hold my baby?”

Etiometry can assist nurses in answering difficult questions from loved ones.

When your child is sick, parental instincts kick in to take action to help them recover. But what if your child is in critical care and it’s not possible to even hold your baby?

At six to seven days post op, a young patient in the CICU was still quite fragile – her condition was complex. Understandably, the mom was having a hard time throughout the entire stay as she was missing out on being able to do the “normal” activities a mother would do if her baby wasn’t sick, like holding and feeding. She wanted to comfort her child. One day the patient was doing a little better, so the mom was finally able to hold her young one for a bit. Unfortunately, the next day, the patient became more fragile again and the bedside nurse shared it would not be a good idea to hold the baby. Out of frustration the mom repeatedly asked, “I could do it yesterday. Why can’t I hold my baby today?”

After a few attempts to try to gain understanding, the nurse decided to share Etiometry’s IDO2 Index™ trend on the persistent display in the room, revealing that “yesterday there was more green, and today there is a lot more red,” so the mom was able to get a clear picture of why today was different for her baby. After seeing the trends and a brief explanation that the Index provides a continuous risk estimation of inadequate oxygen delivery and detection of subtle changes in a patient’s condition, the mom understood the rationale and her frustrations significantly lessened.

The head nurse in this unit said, “Even an experienced nurse who has had that same type of difficult conversation numerous times with patients’ loved ones can struggle to find the right words. It was smart to use Etiometry as a visual tool to clearly articulate information to a non-clinical patient family member.”