Webcams at Saskatoon hospital let parents watch over NICU babies anytime, from anywhere

A new program at the neonatal intensive care unit at Saskatoon's Royal University Hospital is allowing new parents to keep close watch over their babies, even if they can't be near the hospital.

The program, believed to be the first of its kind in Canada, has webcams livestreaming 24/7 from the bedsides of the hospital's neonatal patients to family members' screens.

Dr.SibasisDaspal, who spearheaded the project, said 10 cameras were installed in late July.

Thewebcamslivestreamto a private account. Parents are given alogin and password and can share that information with family members anywhere in the world. The family can then see the newborn patient via any device: desktop, tablet orsmartphone.

Daspal saidit may help alleviate some of the stress parents go through after birth, increase bonding between the parents and the childand even help withbreastfeeding. Moms can see their babies whenever and wherever they're using their breast pump.

The $3,000 webcamsystems were funded bya private donation from Bloom, a Saskatoon group organized by two mothers whose newborns receivedmedical care in the neonatal intensive care unit.

'It's meant a great deal'

Erin Trytten gave birth to triplets nine weeks premature earlier this month and said seeing her babies in the NICU "was for sure emotional, even though we knew that's what would happen and that would be their care plan."

She and her husband are one of the first sets of parents to have access to a webcam.For her livestream, the camera will be centred on one babyat a time for the weeks that the triplets arein hospital.

"I can check in at any time and feel less anxious about leaving the babies," she said.

Tryttenis staying nearby at the Ronald McDonald House and uses the livestream often, but as they're a farming and ranching family, it's been an even more vital link for her husband.

"Right now my husband is harvesting and he is unable to be here on a daily basis, and he can check in on the baby that has the camera at any point as well."

Trytten's mother, Raelene Gibson, lives in Alberta and checks on the triplets three times a day.

"It gives you more of a contact, and a bond, and it also gives you reassurance," Gibson told CBC News in a telephone interview.

Nurses apprehensive

The NICU nursing manager, Adele Riehl, says frontline nurseswere initially uncomfortable with the idea.

"Staff were apprehensive," Riehl said. "They were worried about it, thinking 'Oh, they're going to be recording everything we're saying and watching us work.' But they're not. There's no audio on the cameras;it's just video."

The nurses pause the video feed when they're providing medical care or touching the babies.

Sarah Rhoads, an associate professor at Arkansas University for Medical Sciences, has studied theimpact of NICUcameras and isn't surprised to hear about concerns from nurses and, at times, parents.

In the United States, hospitals in 14 states already use the cameras.

"It does cause stress or anxiety when the mother or father views the baby and it's crying, or it's in an uncomfortable position, or the camera is off. Mothers and fathers automatically assume the worst," Rhoads said.

Researchsuggests thiscan result in more phone calls to the neonatal unitand increased workload for nurses who must reassure families, she said.

However, overall, studies show a positive impact.

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