#472 - Can a Badge Card Make Neonatal Resuscitation Easier at 2 a.m.?
Hello friends 👋
What do you reach for when you're called to a delivery at 2 a.m. and the NRP algorithm feels just out of reach? In this episode, Ben sits down with Lily Bachelor, a neonatal nurse practitioner from Colorado who turned her own new grad anxiety into a practical bedside tool. Together with her husband, a graphic designer specializing in signage and wayfinding, Lily created badge-sized neonatal resuscitation reference cards, now updated to the ninth edition of the Neonatal Resuscitation Program. She explains why phones fall short at the bedside, how the ninth edition's gestational age and weight based recommendations made a quick reference more valuable than ever, and why clinicians at every stage of practice can benefit. The cards are available on Amazon and Etsy in vertical and horizontal formats.
Get the Neonatal Resuscitation Badge Buddy on Amazon:
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The transcript of today's episode can be found below 👇
Ben Courchia, MD (00:01.076)
We're joined today by Lily Bachelor. Lily, welcome to the podcast.
Lily Bachelor (00:06.38)
Hi. Thank you, Ben. Thanks for having me.
Ben Courchia, MD (00:09.88)
You are a neonatal nurse practitioner out of Colorado. And the reason we're chatting with you today is because you went out on a limb outside of clinical practice and decided to create these small neonatal resuscitation cards that can be attached to our badges. You were kind enough to send us a few samples, and they're phenomenal. They are available on Amazon, and they're also updated to the ninth edition of the Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP). So it's very, very convenient. My first question to you is, what made you want to do this? Because I know some people who have, and they keep it internal, but you decided to do this quite professionally. These look beautiful, they're available on Amazon, and they're quite cheap, to be honest with you. So can you tell us a little bit about the process there?
Lily Bachelor (00:59.64)
Yeah, well, thank you so much. I'm so glad to hear that you guys liked them. What really started this project was when I was a new grad nurse practitioner five years ago. I think everybody can think back and remember what it feels like to be new. You just feel like there's so much that you don't know, and you're just so scared and anxious. My biggest fear was that I was not going to know something in the moment it matters most. And of course, I knew that as a new grad you don't have to know everything. You're not expected to, but it's still this fear that you have. Pair that with the fact that, sure, we have our phones and can look things up, but it's not always as quick and practical as we would like. Our phones are dirty, we really shouldn't be touching them when we're about to provide patient care, and it's just not always so professional.
So I started using a first draft of one of our reference cards, and I noticed that it relieved my anxiety and actually started to make me feel a little more confident. I also noticed I was using it every single shift I worked, and I figured I cannot be the only one who has these same fears. There's got to be other people out there. So I thought it would be really cool to be able to share it with others as well.
My husband's a graphic designer in signage and wayfinding, so he designs signs for a living. And I thought it would be really cool if we could marry our two fields and make something really special. So we released our first card three years ago, in 2026. The first card was actually the neonatal reference card, which I've since retired because it has out-of-date information on it now. But really, the neonatal resuscitation card itself made that one obsolete. Since then, we've updated it from the eighth edition to the ninth edition of NRP.
Ben Courchia, MD (03:02.06)
Yeah, that's the good thing about NRP: they give you at least five years before it goes obsolete, so you still have some time before any changes are made. And the ninth edition probably has so many changes that it's very helpful, especially now as people are trying to get used to them, to have a little cheat sheet you can peek at to remember exactly what the new way of doing things is.
Lily Bachelor (03:29.72)
Right. I remember using the first version of our resuscitation card, and it was helpful. But then when the ninth edition of NRP came out, the tip-to-lip rule wasn't as recommended anymore, and they actually broke it down by gestational age and weight. There's no way you could remember that.
Ben Courchia, MD (03:49.899)
Absolutely. And to your point, which I will push against a little, it's not just about new grads who have confidence issues. Even myself, when we get called for a resuscitation at two o'clock in the morning, even if you've done this a million times, you have to get into the right headspace, and it's not easy. So I don't think it's just for new grads. No matter how far along in practice you are, there's definitely a use for it.
Lily Bachelor (04:21.196)
Yes, thank you for bringing that point up as well. I agree. We work long hours, and at two in the morning your mind might not be as sharp as it was at nine in the morning.
Ben Courchia, MD (04:32.33)
Absolutely. So can you tell us where the cards are available? If people want to get some copies for their unit, for their nurses, for their docs, where can they find them?
Lily Bachelor (04:48.728)
So I have the cards listed on both Amazon and Etsy. Amazon's probably the easiest place to buy them. I sell them in single packs, or in five- or ten-packs if you want to get them for your unit. They're available in those multipacks, in both vertical and horizontal versions. We recently added the vertical version because I think about thirty percent of healthcare workers have a vertical badge.
Ben Courchia, MD (05:19.118)
That's right. I have both the horizontal badge and the vertical one, so I'm loving that perpendicular lifestyle.
Lily Bachelor (05:24.441)
And it makes it easy to see, too.
Ben Courchia, MD (05:30.53)
That's correct. Well, Lily, thank you so much for coming on and sharing that. We will put the link to the neonatal resuscitation card, or badge buddy as you call it, on Amazon in the episode show notes, and we invite everybody to check them out. I think these make a terrific gift for the team. So definitely go check it out, and we'll be looking out for more products that you bring out. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
Lily Bachelor (06:03.854)
Thank you. Thanks for having me, and thanks for the support. I really appreciate it.
Ben Courchia, MD (06:07.885)
Of course.
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