Kangaroo Care Hypothermia

In this article, the authors emphasize the effectiveness of Kangaroo Care on neonatal infants. The author is fond of Kangaroo Care because of its least invasive, cost effective, and natural treatment that can help with infant’s temperature. The purpose for this article is to answer the questions about Kangaroo Care and note the variety of benefits that it can do for infants. In addition, this article recognizes the benefit Kangaroo Care has on third world nations and that this natural treatment can help the infants that do not have access to the health care system. However, in resource rich countries, the incubator is commonly used and Kangaroo care is coming rarer. The reason Kangaroo Care is rising to the surface again is because there is a desire to humanize the care, promote early bonding, and establish breastfeeding.

Special care and attention must be given to infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) because of their small size and the health complications they face. One particular challenge faced by health care professionals in the NICU is the management of pain for preterm babies. Preterm infants must undergo a wide range of tests, procedures, and, often, life-saving measures during their hospitalizations, which not only subjects them to pain, but pain-related stress and anxiety. This has an impact on the infants themselves, as well as on the family members and friends who are involved in their care (Smith, Steelfisher, Salhi, & Shen, 2012). The purpose of this paper is to examine the problem of pain management among preterm NICU patients and propose the implementation of kangaroo care as a pain management technique.

In this article published in the journal Dyanmics, also known as the journal for the Canadian Association of Critical Care Nurses, the authors review a retrospective cohort regarding the barriers for time to target temperature management in cardiac arrest patients who are treated with therapeutic hypothermia. The article authored by a both registerd nurses and medical doctors open by reviewing the benefits of therapeutic hypothermia. The article reviews two randomized controlled trials that showed that therapeutic hypothermia when compared to no intervention correlated with improved neurological survival in patients after cardiac arrest. Therapeutic hypothermia has a direct relation to patient survival with intact neurologic function; however

To help prevent this issue I have created a program for the Fairfax hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to facilitate the bond between mother and child while both are recovering and being cared for. The pilot program called “rooming-in” allows mother and child to be on the same private room where other family can also stay. The room will be designed to give maximum support to both mother and baby by having all resources in room as well as a private team of nurses.

Prematurity is the primary cause of increasing infants’ serious illnesses and deaths in the United States (CDC, December 2014).Preterm infants are more likely to have developmental delays, impaired cognitive growth, and behavioral problems as compared to their normal counterparts. Also, the expenditure for the care of premature babies is constantly increasing due to their extended stay in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Previous studies have estimated that the Average daily expense of NICU stay is over $ 3000 for each preterm infant (Muraskas& Parsi 2008). The longer the stay, more will be the cost. The length of NICU stay depends upon the gestational age and complications associated with prematurity. The

Take a second to imagine you are a father, who has an infant admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for the first time. How are you feeling? Afraid? Confused, even? If your baby is admitted to the NICU, your first question probably will be: What is this place? With equipment intended for infants and medical staff specially qualified in newborn care, the NICU is an intensive care unit created for sick newborns who require specialized treatment. A common example for parent’s

On 06/02/16, on the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) care was provided for a patient with induced hypothermia and re-warming status post cardiac arrest. The patient had arrived to the hospital on 06/01/16 for a planned operation. Patient went into cardiac arrest while at the operation room and was brought into the CVICU the same day. Orders for adult induced hypothermia and re-warming were made and the patient was started on this procedure. On 06/02/16 the doctor was reviewing the notes about the patient, and noticed that the process of initiating hypothermia (goal temperature 33 degrees Celsius) had taken longer than the time frame protocol stated.

Evidence proves that breast feeding healthy newborns skin to skin within the first hour of life can have a direct impact on decreasing hypothermia, hypoglycemia and increasing exclusivity then babies dried and swaddled.

Hypothermia can be prevented by maintaining a neutral thermal environment and reducing heat loss. For prevention in reduction of heat consider the four ways by which the neonate experiences heat loss and intervene appropriately.

Kangaroo care as described by Dr. Susan Ludington, is more than just skin-to-skin contact. Kangaroo care is having the infant’s chest directly touching the mother’s chest (Ludington, 2014). Kangaroo care provides the opportunity for the baby to bond with whomever is providing the kangaroo care, mother or father usually (Ludington, 2014). When the mother is using kangaroo care with the infant, the infant is more likely to start breastfeeding, which is important shortly after birth so that the infant gets the first dose of breast milk which contains colostrum, which is thought to be the babies first immunization (Ludington, 2014). According to Kathleen Kuhn and Megan Kuhn, when using kangaroo care with a premature infant, nurses will help decide when the best time to hold the baby is. Some benefits of kangaroo care for the mother include a higher production of milk, the mother feeling closer to the baby, help with coping due to “the baby blues”, learning to respond to the baby’s needs, increased confidence for the mother, and the initiation of breastfeeding (Kuhn & Kuhn, 2011). Benefits for the baby include sleeping better, crying less, regulation of body temperature, the ability to move to an open crib sooner, better breathing, weight gain, preparation for breastfeeding, and more connection with the mother (Kuhn & Kuhn,

In this article, DiBlasi argues that the conventional method used to provide ventilatory support to preterm neonates with respiratory distress syndrome; nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is ineffective. The author bases the claim on the fact that almost half of the infants supported by this technique often develop respiratory failure that warrants invasive ventilatory support and endotracheal intubation that is injurious in nature. According to the author, invasive ventilatory procedures should be avoided to minimize the excessive complications that are usually associated with them.

Parents of premature infants are also provided the opportunity to participate in Kangaroo Care – a form of skin-to-skin contact that encourages bonding, interaction and cuddling between parents and small babies. In addition to the emotional and psychological benefits of Kangaroo Care, this technique encourages breastfeeding, helps baby to sleep better and contributes to being released from hospital earlier. At Sharp Mary Birch’s hospital the NICU has a multidisciplinary team which consists of lactation specialists, neonatal nurse practitioners, nurses, nutritionists, occupational and physical therapists, physicians, respiratory care practitioners and social workers. Whether a baby was born prematurely is with other complications, this specialty care unit is a place where babies can grow, heal, and receive the highest quality medical care and attention. The Maternal Infant Services (MIS) Unit at Sharp Mary Birch provides care for women after their delivery of their babies. They monitor the mothers and babies physical recoveries and provide education and practice in caring for the new baby. Sharp Mary Birch has some of the best combination of technology, medical services and the healing arts programs for their patients, which also include cord blood banking. Sharp HealthCare has partnered

For the past two decades, the limit of gestational viability has been 22-24 weeks (Bhat, Weinberger, & Hanna, 2012). Around 50 years ago, a premature infant born between 22-24 weeks was not considered viable and resuscitation was only considered at 27-28 weeks (Kushchel & Kent, 2011). Medicine and technology advances have improved neonatology drastically and infants are surviving at lower gestational ages. However, many studies show very low survival rates of 22-week neonates and some physician refuse to resuscitate and provide only comfort care. In the NICHD Neonatal Network between 2003 and 2007, infants that were incubated and resuscitated had a 6% survival rate at 22 weeks and a 55% survival rate at 24 weeks (Bhat et al, 2012). Another study followed a hospital for many years were they delivered 85 infants at 22-week

The nurse must be mindful of each intervention initiated and the possible benefits of the intervention against its potential harmful effects for both mother and fetus. Not providing basic comfort measures for the mother can cause serious physical and emotional problems and could lead to possible fatigue and feelings of failure from the mother. The priority of this nursing intervention is to provide the mother and fetus with the least discomfort as possible and

After the delivery, the heat from the mom’s body can warm the baby and maintains the baby’s body temperature. For instance, when nursing students were at the operating room at Saint Peter’s Hospital during the C-section delivery, as soon as the baby was out, the doctor placed the newborn on the mother’s chest. When the mother was alert and awake during the C-section made it possible for the baby to stay on her chest on the first hours after the birth. It was one of the most beautiful moments in life. Nevertheless, there was another C-section birth of diabetic mother. She was not fully awake during the C-section and the doctor only did not promote skin-to-skin mother and the newborn. The doctors and nurses at Saint Peter’s Hospital support and encourage skin-to-skin for mother and newborn right after the birth if there is no complication on mother or baby or when the condition is possible. Saint Peter’s Hospital has policy for vaginal delivery, “all infants that meet the criteria for initiate skin-to-skin care shall have skin-to-skin care implemented as the standard of care immediately after birth and as needed thereafter regardless of feeding preference”. They promote skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby immediately after delivery. However, mothers and babies have a physiologic need to be together during the minutes, hours, and days following birth, and this time together significantly improves maternal and newborn outcomes.