Neural Cowpaths in the NICU

When nurses work in the same neonatal intensive care unit for many years, they tend to follow routines. They follow their schedule in a certain way, report to the next shift in a certain way, and proceed with their workload in a certain, predictable way. Because many of us are creatures of habit, the routines of the unit can be comforting. We like to know what to expect. Especially in a busy NICU, often subject to unknowns from the high-risk antepartum unit, the delivery room, and community hospitals, we relish the complacency of that which we can control.