key: cord-1048061-bupu8ld3 authors: Altimier, Leslie; Boyle, Breidge title: Global Pandemic of COVID-19 date: 2020-06-04 journal: J Neonatal Nurs DOI: 10.1016/j.jnn.2020.06.001 sha: d0a0209250c29855a806ac77b42ba1006ab01144 doc_id: 1048061 cord_uid: bupu8ld3 nan the thoughts and experiences of neonatal nursing colleagues all around the world, to show how we are working together to help the babies and families that we care for. As the number of cases of COVID-19 increases, so does the associated stress and anxiety. Compassion fatigue is increasing as caregivers are caring for COVID-19 positive mothers, and the resulting safety hazards. Compassion fatigue is a normal result of chronic anxiety and stress resulting from caregiving for people we feel compassion for. Compassion fatigue and empathy burnout for health care workers can be similar and can occur for anyone working with individuals who are experiencing physical and/or emotional stress. Compassion is the showing of kindness and willingness to help others during times of stressful events, conditions, or situations. It's when a person cares enough about the other person's experiences and feeling that they want to help. Some of the symptoms of compassion fatigue are: • Excessive blaming • In denial about problems When caregivers become aware that they are prone to compassion fatigue or are already exhibiting these symptoms, this realization can lead to thoughts about past trauma, pain, and suffering in their own lives. Too many people try to stuff their own feelings away and try to keep working in a "business as usual" approach. This reaction can easily lead to crisis. Positive self-care to avoid crisis: • Be kind to yourself • Take personal time and breaks • Educate yourself to understand your reactions • Accept where you are in your own journey • Know that the people who are close to you may not always be available to help you cope. • Talk things over your feelings and thoughts with people who can validate you • Listen to others who have had similar experiences • Be sure to set boundaries in your work and care giving relationships • Express your needs out loud Being proactive in addressing your needs is healing. Setting limits and boundaries can help prevent debilitating compassion fatigue. Make sure to work on your own life outside of your caregiver role. For some people, establishing specific rituals or routines that separate their work from their personal time can be helpful. Empathy burnout is common when individuals spend so much of their emotional strength relating deeply to the problems and stress of others that they forget to care for themselves. "A high level of empathy is good, but without conscious skills to deal with it can lead you to empathy burnout." It is emotional exhausting and can result in a withdrawal from caring or feeling empathy for others. With anxiety around COVID-19, the restrictive visitation policies, and separation of parents from baby, we are all at a high-risk for empathy burnout. If the person in the caring role can recognize this tendency, there are some practical steps that they can take. • Shift thinking about empathy from a feeling to a skill o The skill of empathy can help others while maintaining sufficient self-awareness to avoid burnout. o Be aware of self-care, this will enable the person to provide on-going support. o It is wrong for the individual providing assistance to assume that you know the answers better that the person you are empathizing with. o Assist the other person in figuring out the solutions but do not become the solution. Through conscious thought, empathy burnout is something you can avoid. Remember to think of empathy as a skill that you can practice when appropriate and set aside when it is not or when it becomes overwhelming. This issue starts with a background of COVID-19 presented by Drs. Adam Seiver and Leslie Altimier. We believed that a baseline knowledge of COVID-19 would be a good starting point during this global pandemic. Staff working on NICUs are often the ones who witness and experience traumatic responses from parents and families, as well as having to care for some of the sickest babies in the country. They are frequently faced with significant ethical dilemmas and are therefore exposed to traumatic situations, including management of the baby's medical needs and exposure to death. One way of meeting the emotional wellbeing needs of staff is for NICUs to offer pre-briefs and debriefs. Please join Drs. Sarah-Jane Archibald and Sara O'Curry as they present presents the first review article discussing the overview of a pre and debrief protocol which was custom developed to support staff working on a level-three Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Our next manuscript is very appropriate as we. Are all in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Tertiary hospital services have introduced live streaming video cameras into Neonatal units with the aim of reducing distress and enhancing bonding and attachment between infants and parents during hospitalisation. However, there is a paucity of research exploring the impact of using live streaming video cameras in the neonatal unit. This study, titled 'Neonatal nurses' perceptions of using live streaming video cameras to view infants in a regional NICU' comes to us from Dr. Meegan Kilcullen and the team from QLD, Australia. Positioning is performed to provide support, comfort and physiological stability of preterm infants. Our eighth manuscript describes a randomized controlled trial that was conducted by Deshabhotla Saikiran and his team from India to determine whether estimating the endotracheal tube insertion length using gestation compared to weight resulted in more correctly placed ET tube tips. The last manuscript comes to us again from Queensland, Australia by Michelle Paliwoda, titled "Physiological vital sign differences between well newborns greater than 34 weeks gestation: A pilot study". This study explores differences in physiological vital signs between three gestational age groups: late preterm (34+0 -36+6), early term (37+0 -38+6) and term (³ 39+0) weeks gestation. Michelle's study demonstrates that a "one-size fits all" approach may not actually fit "all" newborns. We hope that you enjoy the mix of reviews, original articles and topics on COVID-19 presented in have an impact on primary caregivers, typically the baby's parents. Infant mental health (IMH) is an expanding, evidence-based field that emphasizes the importance of supporting early relationship development and optimal social and emotional outcomes through enhancing early relationships. Multidisciplinary IMH providers are uniquely prepared to support early relationship development between parents and infants, parents and intensive care professionals, and community mental health resources. As well-prepared and experienced IMH providers become available in intensive care units, babies, parents, and staff will benefit. If this is a subject of expertise or an area of interest, kindly submit your manuscript to the Journal of Neonatal Nursing at https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-neonatal-nursing We would also like to continue hearing the thoughts and experiences of neonatal nursing colleagues all around the world, to show how we are working together to help the babies and families that we care for. We encourage to submit your published written reflections in the miniseries in the Council of International Neonatal Nurses (COINN) section of the Journal of Neonatal Email your videos or reflections to either: Julia Petty UCL IfWH) katie.gallagher@ucl.ac.uk or Alex Mancini (Chelsea & Westminster NHS FT) a.mancini@nhs.net. Please share this information and let's get as many countries as possible to highlight the valuable work of our neonatal nursing community