Authors (including presenting author) :
Chan MY(1), Lee KY(1), Yip YM(1), Fu YM(1), Lee B(1), Cheung SC(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Princess Margaret Hospital
Introduction :
Preterm infants are associated with increase neonatal mortality and morbidity. They are particularly vulnerable to complications due to impaired respiration, difficulty in feeding, poor thermoregulation and high risk of infection. Kangaroo care (KC) is skin-to-skin contact provided by parents to infants to promote the health and well-being of infants. KC is beneficial for preterm infant thermoregulation, physiological stability, sleep, weight gain, shorter hospitalization and for parent bonding, breastfeeding, confidence in baby care. Facing Coronavirus pandemic, difficulty in implementing kangaroo care was raising due to lack of experience nurses, staff sickness leading limited manpower and increased workload, traditional cultural practice for postpartum confinement. To improve this situation, our unit developed a standardized education training program for nurses to promote kangaroo care for parents of infants in NICU.
Objectives :
To determine standardized interventions to promote kangaroo care for all infants in NICU and to evaluate the effect of education training for enhancing nurses’ knowledge and perception of kangaroo care.
Methodology :
The enhancement kangaroo care program was conducted in NICU, PMH from March to November 2023 by a single group pre-test-post-test design. The current kangaroo care practice and education materials were reviewed and revised to develop structured program on kangaroo care. It included training on performing kangaroo care with infants receiving different respiratory support and assessing infants’ clinical condition, updated kangaroo care information of its benefit, instructions on preparation, steps on kangaroo care. Nurses were encouraged to take the initiative to promote kangaroo care and gave updated pamphlets to parents. Parents were also invited to express their feelings and feedback on the program in an open-ended questionnaire.
Result & Outcome :
A total of 40 nurses attended the training with 100% responding rate of pre-and post-questionnaire. 15% of nurses had no NICU specialty training and 28% worked less than 5 years. All pre-tests were performed by end of July 2023 and post-tests were done by mid-August 2023 after completed training. In pre-questionnaire, over 70% of nurses had knowledge on assessing infants and parent readiness on KC, performing KC for infants receiving respiratory support, KC at least 60 minutes. After the training, 87% of nurses (strongly agreed) and 13% (agreed) the program could improve their knowledge and perception towards promoting kangaroo care in NICU. It reflected effectively promoted parent-infant bonding with kangaroo care by parents. All involved parents expressed a strong sense of bonding with their infants, longer sleep of infants, feeling of infants having physiological stability, empowering confidence in caring infants, increasing interest in breastfeeding to enhance and promote kangaroo care in NICU.
