Stay Connected with Your Baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

Nova Southeastern University, Davie, Florida, USA

Background: Skin-to-Skin Care (SSC) also known as Kangaroo Care, is the method of holding an infant, skin-to-skin, on the parent’s chest for a length of time. It is a life-saving intervention within the NICU. Despite evidence based research confirming that SSC significantly benefits newborns, implementation in the NICU is lacking due to numerous barriers. Further research and development of the BabyBe system, listed under current barriers & future research, may potentially be an alternative for eliminating current barriers to ensure implementation of SSC in the NICU. Summary of literature: The Royal Children’s Hospital Clinical Guideline explains that SSC should be promoted and provided to all hemodynamically stable infants, and offered to parents of infants receiving palliative care in the NICU (Skin to Skin, 2016). The three articles included in this poster support the guideline, confirming that SSC delivers life-saving benefits to newborns in the NICU. Additionally, one of the supporting articles interviewed nurses and analyzed their attitude toward implementing SSC in the NICU. It is apparent from the interviews that nurses understand the importance of providing SSC but find implementing the care difficult due to various barriers, specifically parental presence. Relationship to nursing practice: Nurses play a vital role in implementing SSC in the NICU and educating parents about procedure, benefits and importance. Nurses should encourage and welcome parents to participate, ensure that criteria for SSC are met and consistently monitor the baby closely for physiological changes.