Impact of Increased Parent Presence in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit on Parent & Infant Outcomes
Condition: Family Relationship; Stress; Breastfeeding; Bottle Feeding; Complications
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The purpose of this pilot study is to compare parent and infant outcomes and unit outcomes
      pre and post a planned unit-wide intervention aimed at increasing parent presence in the
      Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The FCC intervention will consist of communicating an
      expectation that all NICU parents be present at minimum 4 hours/day versus the current
      practice of telling families to "come as much as they can" that has resulted in inconsistent
      parent presence.
    

Detailed description: 
      Family centered care (FCC) is becoming the standard of care in the Neonatal Intensive Care
      Unit (NICU) and many benefits of FCC programs are reported in the literature. However, the
      integration of FCC practices remains inconsistent in NICUs and many families do not fully
      access available FCC supports. As a result NICU families continue to report feelings of
      powerlessness, stress, depression and lack of confidence in their ability to care for their
      infants at home. Studies of increased family presence in the NICU (8hours/day and
      24/hours/day) have reported promising results for infants and families, but these studies
      report on programs implemented outside of the US. It is not known whether a program requiring
      fewer hours/day of parent presence, which may be a better fit with current US family
      demographics and policies, would demonstrate similar benefits. The purpose of this pilot
      study is to compare parent and infant outcomes and unit outcomes pre and post a planned
      unit-wide intervention aimed at increasing parent presence in the NICU. The FCC intervention
      will consist of communicating an expectation that all NICU parents be present at minimum 4
      hours/day versus the current practice of telling families to "come as much as they can" that
      has resulted in inconsistent parent presence. Following informed consent, data will be
      collected on up to 45 NICU infants and families pre- and post- the intervention for a total
      sample of up to 90. Infant measures will include Salivary Cortisol levels, Infant weight
      gain, Length of Stay and Feeding route at discharge as well as rates of Family Visiting,
      Traditional Holding, Kangaroo Care (KC), and Breastfeeding. Parent measures will include
      Salivary Cortisol Levels and reported stress using the Parent Stress Scale: NICU. Unit-wide
      data will also be collected pre- and post- the intervention. Unit wide measures will include
      rates of Visitation, KC, Breastfeeding, Nosocomial Infections, IV infiltrates, Medication
      Errors and Incident (SERS) report rates.
    

Intervention name(s): FCC intervention
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): Communication to all NICU families that they should be in the NICU a minimum of 4 hours/day.
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Supportive Care