Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Caregivers Research Articles

Using Simulation-Based Training to Improve Neonatal Resuscitation Clinical Competency, Confidence, and Comfort Level of NICU Caregivers.

Approximately 10% of newborns require resuscitation at delivery or during a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stay. Neonatal intensive care unit caregivers competent in providing neonatal resuscitation decrease perinatal mortality and improve neonatal outcomes. Infrequency of resuscitation events, lack of repetition, and inexperience leave caregivers feeling un-prepared for emergency situations. There is a need for educational strategies to maintain competency and increase confidence and comfort level. This quality improvement project used a pre-post survey design. Competency was assessed during simulated mock codes using the Creighton Competency Evaluation Instrument. Self-perceived confidence and comfort level were assessed using a pre-post survey. Descriptive statistics indicated that the average score on the Creighton Competency Evaluation Instrument fell below the targeted minimally competent goal of 80%. Practical significance was noted between the pre-intervention and post-intervention means of both perceived confidence and comfort level. Simulation-based education may increase the competency, confidence, and comfort level of NICU caregivers and should be conducted routinely. Similar projects could be replicated at other institutions to address continuing competency with neonatal resuscitation. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2024;55(4):175-180.].

Swanson's Theory of Caring: An Application to the Role of Nursing Education

Swanson's Theory of Caring emerged from three phenomenological studies carried out in three separate perinatal contexts. Contexts included women who had miscarried, neonatal intensive care unit caregivers, and mothers deemed socially at risk.Swanson identified five caring processes or constructs in the miscarriage study: knowing, being with, doing for, enabling, and maintaining belief. This author conducted a field exercise to test whether the five constructs comprising Swanson's Theory of Caring could be applied to students' evaluation of faculty. The results indicated that students could apply Swanson's Theory of Caring to the evaluation of faculty.

NICU Graduate Reunion: "A Celebration of Life".

Few understand the experience of having an infant in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). This article provides a discussion about the importance of an annual reunion for former NICU infants, their families, and neonatal staff. The purpose of this article is to explain the impact of the NICU reunion on families and neonatal healthcare providers and describe the experience of organizing this reunion over the past 20 years. This is a description of how a NICU reunion was organized at a regional neonatal center. Graphic-designed invitations were e-mailed to NICU graduates, who previously agreed to being contacted, 2 months prior to the reunion date. Social media were utilized to publicize the event on the hospital's Web site. At the reunion, parents and families introduced their NICU graduate to the neonatal staff who cared for them while hospitalized. Sometimes staff found it difficult to recognize the NICU graduates, who were toddlers or older. Parents were relaxed, expressing their appreciation for care received. The impact of seeing an infant, born at 24 weeks, now walking, talking, and running cultivates pride in the NICU healthcare team. The reunion adds a positive dimension to the work of NICU caregivers. Parents look forward to attending the reunion to reconnect with NICU staff and other NICU parents. Directions for future study include a comparison of staff and families who attend the NICU reunion and those who do not, by using a survey or online evaluation tool, to improve future reunions.

The Relationship Between Hospital Construction and High-Risk Infant Auditory Function at NICU Discharge: A Retrospective Descriptive Cohort Study.

To describe the difference in auditory function at neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) discharge between high-risk infant cases exposed to hospital construction during NICU stay and those not exposed. Noise produced by routine NICU caregiving exceeds recommended intensity. As California hospitals undergo construction to meet seismic safety regulations, vulnerable neonates are potentially exposed to even higher levels of noise. Ramifications are unknown. Retrospective data-based descriptive cohort design was used to compare high-risk infant auditory function at NICU discharge between hospital construction exposed and unexposed groups. N = 540 infant cases (243 construction exposed and 297 unexposed controls). Infant cases born and discharged from the study site NICU in the year 2010 (unexposed) and year 2015 (exposed) and received a newborn hearing screening by automated auditory brainstem evoked response (ABER) prior to discharge with results reported. Infant cases excluded: hearing screen results by ABER unavailable, potentially confounding characteristics (congenital infection, major anomalies including cleft lip and/or palate), and transferred into or out of the study site. ABER. descriptive statistics (SPSS Version 24.0), hypothesis testing, correlation, and logistic regression. The difference in auditory function at NICU discharge between high-risk infant cases exposed to hospital construction noise and those unexposed was statistically insignificant, χ2 = 1.666, df = 4, p = .1968, 95% confidence interval [-0.635, 2.570]. More research is needed to better understand whether hospital construction exposure during NICU admission negatively affects high-risk infant auditory function. Findings may catalyze theory development, future research, and child health policy.

First Golden Hour of Life: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

Very low birth-weight (<1500 g) infants are vulnerable to their environment during the first hour after birth. We designed an evidence-based golden hour protocol (GHP) with a goal to stabilize and perform admission procedures within 1 hour of birth at a level IIIB neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The aim of this quality improvement project was to ascertain whether an evidence-based GHP would improve care efficiency and short-term outcomes. Rapid cycles of change using Plan Do Study Act were utilized to document progress and gain knowledge during the quality improvement project. Measures were plotted with statistical process control methods (SPC), which analyzed improvement over time. Both admission temperature and glucose-level means were within reference range throughout the project and predicted a stable process. We observed significantly decreased time to initiation of intravenous fluids and antibiotics. An upward trend of surfactant administration within the first 2 hours of life was also observed. The use of a GHP provided an organized approach to admission procedures and care. By using a checklist and recording intervention times, NICU caregivers were more aware of time management for each intervention and were able to decrease time to initiation of intravenous fluids and antibiotics. Future research should focus on establishing normal blood pressure ranges and safe pain management during the "golden hour" and beyond. Future quality improvement should focus on improving subsequent temperature and blood glucose levels after admission umbilical artery and venous catheter placement.

Vécu de parents ayant perdu un jumeau en réanimation néonatale : étude qualitative, 3 ans après le décès

The mortality rate both before and after birth is higher in twins. Parents face a particularly difficult mourning experience when confronted with the loss of 1 of their newborn twins. The aim of this article is to describe how parents experience and cope with this situation over the long term, how they describe the loss at the time of the death in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the way they are able to become attached to the surviving twin, and the role that NICU caregivers can play to help them. This study is part of a larger qualitative study on parental mourning after the loss of a newborn in 4 NICUs in France. Semi-structured research interviews were conducted 3years after the death. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and anonymized. Discourse analysis was used to extract the data on different themes. Among the 166 participating parents, 26 had lost a newborn twin. The parents reported their difficulties when faced with simultaneous contradictory events at the time of the death of a twin child in the NICU. Mourning appeared to be more difficult in this particular case: to combine the loss of a deceased child with the care of the surviving newborn was very complicated. The existence of the "co-twin" was described as an essential support for the parents; however, over the long term, this child could not fulfill the feelings of emptiness. The relation with this surviving child was sometimes disturbed by parental anxiety that the accident could recur. Fathers and mothers showed repression of their sadness and despair. The representations of the 2 children in their parents' mind were sometimes very close or even overlapping and some parents were confused with regards to the place each of them could have. In the NICU, the caregivers should be able to listen to the parents expressing their contradictory feelings, to sustain the acknowledgement of the loss of 1 child, and in becoming attached to the surviving child. Parents need to be reassured about their living child's health. When faced with the loss of a newborn twin, parents are overwhelmed by the coexistence of contradictory feelings. The role of the medical staff is essential in building separate stories and having different memories for each child.

Effects of Tub Bathing Procedures on Preterm Infants' Behavior

Although medical advances have increased the survival rate of preterm infants, morbidity in terms of neurodevelopmental impairment has not decreased for this population. This results in caregivers having to reconsider how neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) caregiving impacts on preterm infants. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of different phases of a routine tub bath on preterm infants' distress and state behavior in the NICU. The study used an exploratory repeated measures design that focused on preterm infants' distress and state behavior, and evaluated the effects of three phases of a routine tub bath, which were performed according to standard unit practice in the NICU. Thirteen nurses repeatedly bathed 12 infants on different days, and 64 baths were videotaped for the purpose of assessing the variety of distress behavior. The procedures of one bath could be categorized into three phases designated to Phases I, II, and III. The variables were measured by a preterm infant behavioral coding scheme developed for this research. The inter-rater reliability of the instrument ranged from .82 to .99. Mixed effects analysis of variance was used to analyze the differences among the bath phases in the occurrences of distress and state behavior. The results showed significant statistical difference among most distress behaviors during the three phases (e.g. "startle, jerk, tremor" F ratio = 25.62, p < .001; "finger splay, grasping, fisting" F ratio = 49.99, p < .001; "grimace" F ratio = 36.55, p < .001; "fussing or crying" F ratio = 25.27, p < .001), with the exception of "extension, arching and squirming". In particular, the occurrence of distress and state behavior increased significantly in phase II. Routine tub bathing not only disrupts preterm infants' sleep but also causes an increase in distress behavior. Preterm infants' stress increases with the intrusiveness of nursing procedures. NICU caregivers should consider the effects of routine nursing activities that influence the infants, and modify handling to promote techniques to promote preterm infants' recovery, growth and development.

The Influence of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Caregiving Practices on Motor Functioning of Preterm Infants

Experimental design intervention studies have demonstrated that a model of individualized developmental care based on specific behavioral observation improves medical and behavioral outcome for very small preterm infants. It is proposed that infants who were not directly involved in an experimental intervention study per se, but were patients in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) where such studies took place and the model was adopted as the standard of care, demonstrate some of the same benefits as the infants in the experimental study. The study was a retrospective descriptive analysis of an existing data set. The functioning of two cohorts of infants, comparable medically and demographically and cared for in an NICU where developmental care research was conducted and subsequently adopted as the standard of care, was measured after discharge with the Assessment of Preterm Infants' Behavior (APIB). Cohort I was cared for before the first study of individualized developmental care in the NICU; Cohort II was cared for after the individualized developmental care approach was adopted as the standard of care for the NICU. Cohort II infants demonstrated better scores than Cohort I infants on 8 out of 23 summary variables, 6 of which reflect improved motor functioning. They also showed significantly better scores on 7 of the 17 specific motor variables of the APIB. Infants cared for in an NICU with an individualized developmental care approach showed improved motor system functioning compared to infants cared for in the same NICU before the approach was adopted. It is speculated that the individualized developmental approach to care based in the synactive theory of development contributed to the documented improvements. This finding would indicate that functioning of preterm infants, particularly in terms of their motor systems, can be influenced by modification in caregiving.