A Scottish health board is launching a virtual tour of its neonatal intensive care unit to help alleviate anxiety for parents whose newborns are being care for in the department.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said the experience can be "daunting" for parents and they wanted to find a way to familiarise parents with the sights and sounds of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) remotely.
Asma Anwar, whose newborn twin girls were cared for in Glasgow's NICU in 2018 after they were born prematurely at 25 weeks, guides parents through the "360° immersive virtual tour" of the unit, which is located in the Royal Hospital for Children.
One of the twins, Inara, sadly passed away four days later, while Yasna was able to go home with her parents after 169 days in intensive care.
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The tour has been developed in collaboration with patients’ families and the hospital’s neonatal team.
It is designed to talk parents through what to expect at the unit, which they will usually be visiting under very stressful and worrying circumstances.
It was the brainchild of Senior Charge Nurse Tracy Clinton and created by graphic designer David Springford, from Atom Design, who also has first-hand experience of being a parent in the Neonatal Unit.
The virtual tour invites viewers to follow Asma on a virtual walkthrough where she explains how the unit will look, feel and sound using real audio, and what different pieces of equipment do.
Other parents also share their own neonatal stories.
The video is interactive and fully accessible, with translation and British Sign Language options is available.
Ms Anwar said: “We wanted to make it positive.
"Tracy believed with my experience I could help them make something that is useful for other families, so I agreed to do it help make parents feel more at ease.
“The walkthrough touches on every aspect of NICU, from where you can see your baby to where to wash your hands.”
Ms Anwar and her family remain incredibly grateful for the help they received from the unit at such a challenging time.
She added: “Our time in the neonatal unit was a rollercoaster, but the staff were so supportive. The doctors were straightforward, yet empathetic.
“When the girls were delivered, they told us just to take it one day at a time.
"We took that on board, and we took it day by day. There were good days and bad days, especially when Inara deteriorated after 48 hours.
“They took great care of our son, Orhan, who at that point was a year and three months old.
“He broke his wrist a week before we had the girls, and he was always in the pram at that point.
"When we lost Inara, the staff fed, entertained, and put my son to bed.
“They rearranged things to ensure he slept properly, so that we had time with Inara.”
Dr Neil Patel, a consultant neonatologist at the Royal Hospital for Children and clinical director of Hi Scotland - who also supported the development of the virtual tour - said: “We hear from families how stressful it can be having a baby admitted to neonatal intensive care and we want to support them in every way that we can.
“This new Neonatal Virtual Tour is a really innovative technology that we co-developed with families in our unit.
“It means they now have a unique way to familiarise themselves with the unit, meet our team and other families and answer some of the questions they may have.
“We also hope it will provide reassurance and make it a much less daunting experience."
The Virtual Tour was created by graphic designer David Springford, who runs Jack’s Star Tours and has first-hand experience as a parent in a neonatal unit.
Mr Springfield said: “I am especially grateful to the families who shared their neonatal journeys, having personally experienced the amazing support and care they received.
“It fills me with pride to contribute to this initiative, and I look forward to creating more tours to support families in the future.”
NHSGGC Senior Charge Nurse Tracy Clinton said: “Our unit tour was developed in partnership with parents and the neonatal team in response to feedback from families about the type of information they would find helpful when their baby is receiving neonatal care.
“We listened when parents told us they wanted to be introduced to the unit by other parents, not just the medical team.
“This helps to ensure that the tour is not only informative but also welcoming and supportive as parents are also given advice through stories from other families experiencing neonatal care first hand.
“It was also important to us that the tour was also inclusive by providing other language options which we hope to expand on in the future.
“Our virtual tour has surpassed our expectations, and we are extremely grateful to both Asma, David and all the families and staff who contributed, using their personal experience to support us in creating this tour."
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