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UT Health Tyler NICU nurse draws on personal experience

When Jamie Morrison learned she would have to deliver her baby early because she was experiencing pregnancy complications, she wasn’t worried because of her background as a NICU nurse herself.

“I was overconfident. I’ve seen these babies, I thought, ‘Oh, he’ll be fine,’” she reflects eight years later. “When you’re in that moment and it actually happens … I will admit I did not get it until it happened to me.”

Morrison said it really hit her when her 4-pound, 11-ounce-newborn was placed in a transport isolette minutes after delivery and wheeled away from her to the NICU.

“I got to see him in the box before they wheeled him away and that was the worst moment — he went away, my husband went away, the medical the team went away,” she said. “He wasn’t that sick and I knew that, but that whole being on the mom side rather than the nurse side was so hard.”

Morrison now uses the knowledge she gained from that experience and her son Bryson’s 10-day stay in the NICU to help families facing similar emotions while their babies are in the UT Health Tyler NICU.

“It influenced how I interact with our moms and how I teach our nurses how to interact with our moms,” said Morrison, RN, the clinical educator for the NICU. “You can be the best NICU nurse but not necessarily be the best advocate for the family.”

Little things can have big impact, she said, such as making sure dads are included in conversations, assuring mom and dad they can call or come by at any time to check on their baby, and helping parents feel like exactly that – a parent – and not a visitor at their child’s bedside.

“I feel like my experience really helped mold that understanding, and I feel like God truly gave me my baby that needed NICU care so I could literally pass that to future generations to take care of NICU babies,” she said.

Morrison’s interest in nursing was sparked at an early age after a gymnastics injury landed her in the hospital for arm surgery when she was 8.

“I always wanted to be a doctor because I wanted to fix people. Then I had my surgery and I noticed that I only saw the doctor for a few minutes, but the nurses were the ones who took care of me and made me feel special,” Morrison said. “They’re the ones that are making the connections with you, they’re the ones that are doing the things that make you feel better, and that’s what I wanted to do was to make people feel better.

“Then I figured it out that yes, doctors have a part in that, but it’s really the nurses that are the eyes and the ears and always there,” she added. “Once I saw it in action with my surgery and the follow-up appointments, that was what really drew me to nursing.”

She discovered her passion for the NICU as part of an extern program when she was still in nursing school.

“Once I rotated through NICU in clinicals, I knew this is it, this is what I’m supposed to do because it’s the babies who can’t speak for themselves, they can’t advocate for themselves, they didn’t ask to be in that situation,” she said. “I really don’t see myself doing anything else ever because this really exemplifies what it is to be a nurse. You have to show your compassion not just to the patient, not just the babies, but also their families. We’re working with all of them — this is a whole family experience — so being able to provide not just the physical care to the babies, but also the emotional support to the families is huge.”

Morrison said it has been thrilling to be a part of the team that helped build the UT Health Tyler NICU, which opened in January with 2,900 square feet featuring nine state-of-the-art neonatal beds and the most up-to-date equipment for advanced care and monitoring.

“The diversity of the team, the diversity of experiences, is phenomenal. We have nurses from all over the country bringing their knowledge and their skill sets to our NICU. Making sure they and I provide the care I would have wanted provided to my own child, that’s my goal,” she said. “I want parents to feel that warmth and comfort from us, not feeling scared when they leave, knowing that we’re going to take the best care of their child and that we’re going to be there for them and be their advocate, let them know any ups downs and celebrate with them, be a part of those milestones.”

Morrison is about to mark a milestone of her own — Bryson’s 9th birthday, which he celebrates on Mother’s Day this year.