SOMETHING FISHY IS GOING ON

Recently, I gave birth to my sixth child, Anicius, by caesarean at Gleneagles Hospital. When I awoke after the operation, my husband broke the bad news that our child had been warded in the Neonatal Intensive Care unit (NICU)because of a
lung infection.

I was depressed,as I did not wish my newborn son to spend his days in a cold, sterile environment. When I gave birth to my five other children at a restructured hospital, my experience of the nursery was not a happy one. Often, newborns were left to cry as there seemed to be too few nurses around. The nursery was quite an uninviting place and parents were not allowed in.

What a surprise it was when I entered the NICU at Gleneagles for the first time.

I saw Fish come alive — that is to say, the Fish! philosophy is practised in this unit.

The philosophy comes from a book by writer and film-maker Dr Stephen Lundin, inspired by the author ’s visit to Seattle ’s Pike Place Fish Market. The market is famous for being madly successful thanks to its fun, bustling, joyful atmosphere and great customer service.

The Fish! philosophy advocates an innovative work environment where a playful, attentive and engaging attitude leads to more energy, enthusiasm, productivity and creativity.

The NICU was decorated as an aquarium, with cute little fish hanging from the ceiling and pictures of fish plastered on the wall. Music from Gold 90.5FM was always playing. The visual and audio environment is meant to stimulate the development of premature babies.

In the course of more than 10 days in the NICU,I had the privilege to observe the staff constantly practising the four principles of the Fish! philosophy.

The first principle is: Play. I have seldom seen other nurses play with the newborns as much as those at Gleneagles. They constantly tease, joke and talk to the babies, more often than not calming a crying baby in the process.

The second principle is: Make their day. As is the policy in other NICUs, only the parents of the children warded there are allowed in. But, knowing that grandparents, siblings and other anxious relatives are also eager to see the latest additions to their families, the nurses came up with a simple solution.

They take digital photos of the babies and print out copies to pass around to relatives. They even footprint each baby and turn it into a cute little poster, complete with stickers and stars. It is simple actions like these that make the parents ’ day.

The third principle is: Be there. The nurses don ’t just make time for the new-borns, they also keep an eye on the parents. They pay attention to make sure the mother gets enough rest and that she is
not too tired from looking after her child.

The last principle is: Choose your attitude. It is stressful working in the NICU. Nurses spend long hours in a pressure-packed environment and have to respond to every beep from the machines monitoring the patients.

It is easy for a nurse to become task-oriented and overlook the fact that she is dealing with human lives. Yet, I observed that the nurses’ attitude towards these babies was one of hope and joy.

They truly believe that their patients will get better, and this hope rubs off some-how on these fragile newborns.

Singapore has placed a premium on training its workforce. For example, teachers must undergo 100 hours of training every year.
The civil service, through the Institute of Public Administration and Management, has invited many world-renowned trainers to Singapore.

Psychologist Daniel Goleman has espoused emotional intelligence here, motivational speaker Stephen Covey has advocated the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and education expert Dr Spencer Kagan is invited every year to conduct workshops on cooperative learning.

Teachers have also received training in using the Fish! Philosophy. However, being trained does not necessarily mean one puts the ideas into practice.

My NICU experience has prompted me to reflect on the training I have received in my career as a teacher. Most of the time, the concepts taught remain at the cognitive level.

But after seeing the Fish! Philosophy in action in the Gleneagles NICU, I now feel motivated to put what I have learned into practice.

This article was first published in TODAY on 29.8.2005