Woombie Med Pods were designed by a nurse, Karen Barski, and a Child Life Specialist and Family Therapist, Chelsea Vail. Together, Barski Vail Designs, LLC was born to provide empathy-based products for the underserved patient populations on the pediatric units of childrens hospitals. Thats right, PEDIATRICS, there are millions of babies hospitalized daily OUTSIDE the NICU. Full-term babies admitted for jaundice, flu, RSV, abuse, burns, trauma, cystic-fribrosis, leukemia, opioid withdrawl, gastroschisis, post-operative care, cardiac needs, and so many other diagnosis and treatment needs. Whats the problem?Theres almost no developmental care for these babies on the pediatric side. Often they're given an oversized, loose fitting patient gown and a huge barred sterile crib in a cold room with bright lights. Perhaps they're swaddled in an itchy overbleached blanket and unwrapped and rewrapped every 2-4 hours for vital signs and they houdini out of the swaddle quicker than that are are left flailing and crying until someone can get to them to provide comfort. Then, theres the procedures...Imagine a baby being hospitalized with, or without, parental support. Perhaps parents are tending to other kids or at work to maintain insurance and stay employed. Perhaps they're hospitalized themselves... so, baby is admitted and needs a heel stick, blood draw and IV placement. Perhaps they need a PICC line or EEG. Or, maybe, they'll need CT scan, MRI, x-rays. No matter the procedure, to an infant, this is traumatic and stressful and causes firing and prewiring of neurons for stress in the brain. The Woombie Med Pod line can be used for comfort, calmin and procedural support! Procedural support via comfort positioning! Paging Child Life...The Woombie Med Pod can comfort the baby 360 degrees during scans, EEG, or post trauma during triage. If an IV or PICC line needs to be placed, one arm can be pulled from snaps at the armpit while still swaddling the baby. The double zipper allows easy access to diaper area for VCUG, circumcision, wound care, or feet for IV or blood draw.
Child Life Specialists, we need you to advocate for the Woombie Med Pod line at your hospital! Swaddling and comfort positioning should be best practices to reduce trauma and improve psychsocial care of pediatric infants 0-3 months during hospitalization. |
AuthorChelsea Vail, MA, CCLS, Newborn Care Specialist and contributing inventor of Woombie Med Pods. Archives
April 2024
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