Problems in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Recommendations for Improvement

Running head: NURSING
NURSING
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Author Note:

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Introduction:
Neonatal intensive care unit involves the provision of critical to new born infants. The
birth of a baby is characterized by a set of complex physiological and psychological changes
both in the mother and the baby. Post birth, it is essential for the baby to adapt to the
environment and make essential physical adjustments so as to adapt to the environment
outside the mother’s womb. Once the baby is delivered from the mother’s uterus, the baby
cannot rely upon the mother’s circulation and placenta for survival and other physiological
functions. In this regard, it should be mentioned that the babies that are born with critical
physical health condition and require specialized medical attention are placed under the
Neonatal Intensive Care unit (NICU) for optimal care. The NICU comprises of a set of
skilled professionals who deliver care to the new born with advanced technology and
evidence based practices. It should be noted in this context that the NICU does not only
impart care to the babies who are born with critical illness but also deliver care to babies that
are not affected by critical illness but need specialized care services (Davidson, 2013). I have
worked in a Neonatal Care Unit in India and my professional experience has been an
incredible one. However, the healthcare setting where I was working had certain policies that
hindered with the smooth functioning of the care process. This paper would critically analyse
the problems that hindered a smooth care delivery and compare the quality of the care
process with the effective workplace framework and present suitable recommendations which
could help in improving the quality of service delivery.
Analysis of current compassionate care
The Effective Workplace Culture Framework is the strategy that helps to determine that the
workplace environment that has been developed in the facilities are able to implement patient
centred, family centered and clinically effective care so that people could be provided with

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improved and effective care for their growth and development (Manley et al., 2016). This
effective framework is inclusive of specific aspects that represents individual as well as
organisational aspects and then with providing specific importance to the essential attributes,
it provided details of the positive and negative consequences that could arise due to the
presence or absence of these attributes and aspects (Manley et al., 2016).
Enabling factors
Individual:
As per Manley et al. (2011), the provided framework developed by researcher, helps
the organisation and its employees to assess their workplace cultures and with that provides
the employees to skills to understand the areas that require clarity as well as the skill set that
they would be requiring for their transformation in the healthcare facility, to conduct their
improved and enhanced job role effectively. Hence, the application of this framework in the
healthcare facilities would help the organisational leaders as well as the employees to
understand their shortcomings and they would be able to overcome organisational concerns
(Manley et al., 2011).
Transformational Leadership:
As per Eskola et al. (2016), transformational leadership can be defined as the style of
leadership that is based on the principle of inducing motivation among the workforce so as to
facilitate easier implementation of organization change within a healthcare setting. While
critically reflecting upon my clinical experience it can be said that there is a need to adapt a
transformational leadership style in order to effectively manage the work process and
motivate the employees to acquire excellent service quality. There is a strong need to include
an efficient clinical leader within the organization who would positively influence the
multidisciplinary team of care professionals to practice actively in collaboration so as to

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achieve positive patient outcome and acquire improved job role satisfaction. Research studies
reveal that the implementation of transformational leadership within a health care setting
improves patient outcome and also helps in optimizing employee attrition and burnout
(Fallatah & Laschinger, 2016).
Skilled facilitation: Another important area that should be prioritized by organizations
includes integrating the organization vision among the employees so as to ensure professional
expertise and high quality service delivery. Healthcare organizations must possess a unique
evaluation system that could help in detecting areas where care professionals lack skills and
expertise to render effective patient care. As per Manley et al. (2016), refreshment training
courses and educational workshops can help in developing the professional skills of the
workers. As has previously been discussed the care professionals within the NICU lacked
effective communication skills to communicate with the family members of the patient about
the patient’s treatment progress. This led to anxiety and emotional distress among the family
members of the patient. Conducting effective communication training workshops can help in
improving the professional skills of the care professionals to interact with the family
members of the patient. .
Role Clarification: The primary problem that led to poor service outcome was lack of
adequate staffing and clarity of professional roles to the team of care professionals working in
the healthcare organization. Only five nurses were working within the unit and multiple
activities including, patient documentation, assessment, managing medication and billing had
to be looked after by all the five nurses. As stated by Roue et al. (2017), professional role
clarity within the nursing profession has been studied to speed up the organizational process
and at the same time promote improved performance outcome.
Organizational: