By Story by LIBBY KEELING, Courier & Press staff writer 464-7450 or [email protected]
Although rousing games of Red Light, Green Light are a few years off, the neonatal intensive care unit at Deaconess Women’s Hospital is equipped with three-tiered, red-yellow-green signals that issue noise-traffic alerts from the ceiling.
The electronic SONICU Sound System, referred to as “The Light Show” by staff, was installed as part of renovations completed in August.
“This is one quarter later, and it really has dramatically changed the behavior of everyone in the NICU,” said Dr. Kenneth Herrmann, medical director for newborn services at the Deaconess- Riley NICU located at The Women’s Hospital on the Gateway campus.
Each of six areas in the NICU has its own independent sound sensor and signal light. A green light indicates the sound level is appropriate (below 50 decibels). Yellow lights (50-55 decibels) serve as a caution.
When sound levels exceed 55 decibels, signal lights glow red and overhead lighting in the affected area automatically dims, providing a second visual cue to staff, parents and visitors.
Decreasing sound levels and input in the NICU improves brain development, explained Anne Marie Nelson, Deaconess developmental specialist.
“The babies rest better,” she said. “If they’re resting better, they’re using that energy to grow,
which is the name of the game.”
Marie Elliott didn’t see a single red light during the first four days her daughter, Loyal, born Dec. 10, was in the NICU.
“It’s really quiet and calm. I actually get sleepy in there,” said Elliott, who lives in Evansville. “I think it’s more relaxing for the babies as well as the nurses.”
The calm atmosphere in the NICU helps reduce stress, Elliott said, and her NICU experience with Loyal has been different from her newborn nursery experience with her son, Royal, who is nearly 2.
“I think that it’s better that it’s quiet, instead of a whole lot of crying babies,” she said. “It gives you time to bond with your baby.”
Yellow alerts are triggered with relative frequency, Herr-mann said, especially during shift changes and when certain ventilators are in use.
Sometimes the beeping of monitors, the sounding of their alarms or crying babies, “screaming bloody murder,” will push noise levels into the red zone, said Misty Dilback, whose twins, Anna and Adelyn, were born 11 weeks premature Oct. 23.
“I do like it. The girls like it, too. They’re always looking up trying to figure out what’s going on,” said Dilback, who lives in Henderson, Ky.
“I think it makes it nice, too, if people come in and don’t realize that they have to be quiet, then that little system will catch them. Like my dad, sometimes he’ll come in and he’ll be talking and I’ll be like, ‘Dad, shh.’ And I’ll look up and I’ll say, ‘Do you see those lights up there?'”
Research indicates loud sounds, bright lights and other painful stimuli cause changes in premature babies’ developing brains, Herrmann said.
“There’s evidence that if we would treat them differently, better, in a kinder, more gentle fashion, that you can actually see changes in brain structure on the MRI examinations,” he said.
A similar sound control system in the NICU at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis inspired the local “light show.”
Herrmann said the Women’s Hospital worked with Chris Smith, the Indianapolis-based engineer who developed the Riley system, to enhance his original design by adding the dimming of overhead lights when sound levels are excessive and in the red.
“Now the most difficult sound to control is a healthy baby cry,” he said. “Those naughty babies are sent home.”
The system also tracks and logs yellow and red alerts. In a 24- hour period, Dec. 10 to 11, Herrmann said, it recorded one red/ dimming light combination occurring in one area of the NICU at 2 a.m.
“It’s fabulous,” he said. “It’s a change in the care, but it’s a change in the culture, where people are coming in without anybody saying they’re too loud. They are just never loud anymore, which we think is good for the babies.”
Kaci Miller, who has been a registered nurse in the NICU for four years, said that when the red/dimming light combo occurs it’s typically triggered by a sudden loud noise, such as something being dropped.
“You can tell when a sudden noise does occur, the babies will jump or startle. Their vital signs will change,” she said.
“This kind of helps. We do have a lot lower noise level most of the time, and it just helps the babies stay calm and relaxed.”
Another feature built into the NICU’s electronic light system includes an artificial sunrise and sunset, allowing for diurnal variation. Overall, lights in the NICU are brighter during the day, gradually dim in the evening, and gradually brighten in the morning.
“It’s just a natural thing that occurs, and it’s good for the babies,” Miller said. “It helps when they go home. This is what it’s going to be like.”
(c) 2007 Evansville Courier & Press. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
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