Encounter the term.
A word comes up on rounds, at the bedside, in a consent conversation, in a sentence about what happens next. It goes by quickly, and it doesn’t land.
How it works
Five steps, starting the moment a word doesn’t land.
NICU Jargon Rx is built around one small event that happens dozens of times a day in every unit, and usually passes unremarked.
The sequence
From a word to a conversation.
Nothing here requires training, a login, an app, or a clinician standing by. That is the entire design brief.
Find the corresponding card.
Five color-coded categories (Diseases, Vocabulary, Respiratory, Nutrition and Imaging) narrow the search before any reading starts. Color first, then category name, then card.
Read the explanation.
Plain language, written for someone hearing the term for the first time. Clear enough to be useful; careful enough to stay accurate. Available in English and in Spanish.
Build understanding.
One card doesn’t change much. Twenty cards over a long admission change the whole experience: the unit stops sounding like a foreign country.
Take part in the conversation.
A family that knows the words can ask the question they actually meant to ask. Care teams spend their time answering real questions instead of rebuilding vocabulary from scratch.
Why physical cards
Paper, in a unit full of screens.
A card doesn’t lock, buffer, log out, or need to be charged.
It stays where it was left. It can be taped inside a cabinet door, tucked into a bag, handed across an isolette, or given to a grandparent who wasn’t there for the conversation. It does not compete for attention with everything else on a phone.
In a room where most surfaces are already displaying something urgent, a physical object is a quieter and more durable way to hold onto one idea.
Two audiences, one object
01
Parents and families
Follow rounds. Catch up afterwards. Explain what is happening to the people who love your baby but aren’t in the room.
02
Nurses
Teach at the bedside without starting from zero, and leave something behind when the shift ends.
03
Physicians & APPs
Give a family a reference point for the conversation you just had, so the next one can start further along.
04
Social work & child life
A shared vocabulary to work from when supporting families through a long and disorienting admission.
05
Educators
A consistent teaching aid for admission education, discharge preparation and family-centered care programs.
06
Spanish-speaking families
The same cards, the same categories, in Spanish, so understanding doesn’t depend on which language is spoken at the bedside.
NICU Jargon Rx is an educational resource intended to support conversations between families and their care team. It does not diagnose or treat any condition and is not a substitute for individualized medical advice from a qualified healthcare professional.
For hospitals & institutions
Bring NICU Jargon Rx to your hospital.
Tell us about your unit and how you would like to use the cards.