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. 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.
It's fabulous. 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.
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