SASKATOON -- While the pediatric department at the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital has seen some changes since the pandemic started, there are more COVID-19-driven modifications starting this week.
The changes mean less personal interaction with doctors and staff. It’s a difference which was a tough pill to swallow for some at first.
Daily rounds in the pediatric neonatal intensive care unit look different as of this week with fewer staff making the rounds in person as some watch virtually.
Those staff members who are on the ward are distancing from each other as they learn about each of the medically at-risk patients in hospital.
Two-month-old William Cechanowicz who was born three months premature needed the specialized care in the NICU to keep him alive since he was born in December.
His parents, Stephanie Wood and Jared Cechanowicz, are seeing the pandemic changes firsthand from their room each day and while they wondered how care would change at first, now they are seeing it more clearly.
“I’m not surprised they’re taking an extra step to make things a bit safer. We’re thankful they’re all still there. There’s a little camera that goes on the rounds cart so we can still ask them questions during rounds,” Wood told CTV News.
Wood says she can’t say enough about the amazing care they have received since William was born; his life in the hands of the specialized care team in the NICU.
Cechanowicz says during their 60 days in hospital with William, they’ve felt safe because staff is making the tiny patients a top priority.
“We know the nurses have been making a lot sacrifices in their personal lives because they don’t want to be the person who’s bringing COVID back to the little babies here.”
Reducing the number of staff gathered together has been necessary according to Dr. Sibasis Daspal, head of neonatal intensive care.
“It’s putting everybody’s mind at ease because safety is the most important thing. The message to the community and the parents is that we are serious about physical distancing.”
Outpatient clinics in the NICU were changed at the end of the summer to reflect this concern for safety, according to Daspal.
Doctors, therapists and technicians seeing patients via video. Patients and parents are not travelling to the hospital for their regular appointments.
Daspal says that at first, parents were concerned that they weren’t getting to see their specialist face to face, but then a shift happened when results started coming in.
“This is different. This is at their home. They’re comfortable. We let them play on the floor. Often they will do a lot of stuff they wouldn’t do in the clinic,” Daspal says.
By keeping them home, specialists are getting a clearer picture of how they are doing rather than having them bundled up and brought to the unfamiliar setting of a hospital exam room.
Daspal says this could result in video appointments being utilized beyond the pandemic.
William’s parents were told that because his feeding tube was removed earlier this week, the prospects of him being released from hospital in the days ahead are promising meaning that William and his parents will also be seeing their care team via video from the comforts of home; a place they can’t wait to share with their new family member.
