For clinicians across Mississippi, the lights, sounds and touch of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) suddenly feel different: brighter, louder, more intense. Through Philips’ Preemie for a Day program, NICU professionals at the Mississippi Perinatal Quality Collaborative (MSPQC) Conference stepped into an immersive simulation designed to help them experience care from the perspective of a premature infant and take that perspective back to their own units.
Preemie for a Day aims to help NICU improve developmental care practices, rooted in the Neonatal Integrative Developmental Care Model. The interactive half-day sessions can engage up to 40 clinicians at a time, creating hands-on learning at scale while preserving the empathy-building experience at the heart of the program.
At the Mississippi Perinatal Quality Collaborative Conference hosted in Jackson, Mississippi, clinicians representing 47 hospitals and healthcare organizations across Mississippi took part in the class. Together, they explored how routine interactions — from noise and lighting to positioning, feeding and family involvement — can shape the earliest moments of a preterm infant’s life.
I got the opportunity to see what it was like to be a baby in the NICU. It’s kind of eye opening to see what they go through.Hannah Sheridan, Registered Nurse and Program Manager, Mississippi Public Health Institute
This experience is rooted in a simple but powerful idea: by changing perspective, we can change care.