The Consistency of Care program allows nurses time to learn babies' silent cues of distress, and build intimate bonds with them and trust with their families. Ultimately, this fosters the babies' development, decreases the number of complications and shortens the length of their hospital stays. A 30 member task force spent six months designing the Consistency of Care program at Texas Children's Newborn Center. The Center's Level II and Level III nurseries compose the nation's largest neonatal intensive care unit, where more than 2,500 babies are treated annually by a staff of nearly 300 caregivers. A team of nine to 12 nurses covers each area.
Team leaders begin each shift with team members reporting on the status of their patients.
Respiratory therapists and other clinicians are dedicated to teams, as needed. The teams are grouped together for a year but rotate to different areas every eight weeks, a time period based upon babies' average length of stay. This consistency model is the second phase of Texas Children's Developmental Support program. This program centers on treatment that takes into account newborns' nonverbal cues, such as frowning or stiffly outstretched limbs and fingers. These might be cues that the baby needs a protected environment of dim lights or decreased noise.