Cerebral Palsy and the NICU Graduate

PUT YOURSELF IN THIS SITUAtion. You have three drips to remix, your oscillator patient is starting to crash, and you have just been asked to work a double shift because the hospital is short staffed. The unit secretary informs you that the mother of one of your former primary patients is on the telephone and is hysterical. A physician at the neonatal follow-up clinic has just told her that her baby has cerebral palsy (CP). She wants reassurance, information, and input from you because you established a rapport with her when her infant was in the neonatal intensive care unit and she trusts you. You remember cerebral palsy from your pediatric rotation in nursing school, but you don't see many actual diagnoses made in the NICU, and your recollection is foggy.