IU Health Arnett NICU earns a perfect 100 patient experience score for 2024

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit team at Arnett Hospital is celebrating a pretty special accomplishment: A perfect 100 patient experience score for all of 2024.

“We’re really proud of earning 100% patient experience satisfaction for 2024,” says Jeanine Mikek, manager of the Neonatal Intensive Care and Pediatrics units at Arnett Hospital. “It’s a true reflection of the exceptional care that our NICU team delivers to every patient and their families each day and is testament to both the skill and compassion we strive for.”

This accomplishment­—virtually unheard of in healthcare—is especially impressive, given that the NICU team experienced five months in 2024 with a higher-than-average daily census.

The NICU had 313 admissions in 2024.

“Staff remained diligent in providing family-centered care, helping babies meet goals related to breathing, feeding and thriving, while simultaneously incorporating family wishes and expectations into care,” says Mikek.

Sydney Lanum, a nurse on the unit, says the team’s close-knit culture and commitment to supporting each other is what makes the difference—for both the team and the patients.

“When you work with people that you really get along with, you enjoy going to work and you have a positive attitude,” she says. “[The patients and families] can feel it. They can feel the happiness, they can feel that we enjoy coming to work.”

The team, says Mikek, extends beyond the NICU, and patient experience scores are a result of a shared effort.

“The NICU team…are supported each shift by the invaluable services of Respiratory Therapy, Pharmacy, Physical and Speech Therapy, Social Work, Lactation and Environmental Services. Every individual and interaction has an impact,” she says.

Pictured: Members of the NICU team with members of the West Region executive team, during a celebration on Thursday, Jan. 9.