Baby ER Summary

Baby ER by Edward Humes is a detailed book that carefully illustrates the experiences of nurses, specialists, physicians, patients, and loved ones while encountering a variety of different circumstances in the NICU. NICU is an abbreviation for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in a hospital. NICUs are nurseries within hospitals that supply continuous care to ill or premature babies. The nurses and other health care workers are trained to provide the best possible care in order for these infants to get better. However, the NICU is often feared by health care workers. The health care workers are often afraid of the emotions and bonds that they may form between the parents of the ill baby or the baby themselves. This often frightens the health …show more content…
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit can be a very hectic place, with all the babies and their schedules that they must stick to. Humes did a brilliant job illustrating behind the scenes of it all, as well as explaining how much hard work goes into taking care of these babies. This book contains so much information, but unfortunately, it is quite difficult to keep track of. For instance, Humes would start narrating one story, and then skip to another one and then finish the first one a couple chapters later. I had to write notes about each story so I could remember exactly what happened before he picked up with where he left off. Although I thought it was unorganized, overall it was an extremely remarkable book. All of the stories tie in together and create a bigger picture that is much more easily understood rather than just small stories here and …show more content…
Not only did he talk about the infants’ conditions and their lives, but he also discussed the lives of the physicians and other health care professionals who provide care to these ill babies in the NICU. Humes tells stories about these health care professionals and stresses the fact that even though it is demanding, there are various rewarding things about working in this specific unit. Nevertheless, there are a lot of heartache and nerve-racking situations that occur almost daily. It is very clear that it takes a certain kind of person in order to deal with sick people. Most health care workers grow an emotional bond with the patient and their family. In order to take care of these ill people, particularly infants, it is important to not get too attached because there is no telling what could happen to that child. Overall, I believe that this book was on the reading list because it educates the readers by passionately allowing us to get an inside look on what really occurs in the NICU and how much health care professionals are dedicated to helping these infants and their