Neonatal nurses’ beliefs about almost continuous parent–infant skin‐to‐skin contact in neonatal intensive care

Abstract

Aims and objectives.To describe what nurses believe about almost continuous skin-to-skin contact for preterm infants between 32 0 -36 0 weeks gestation.Background. Skin-to-skin contact a few hours per day has become standard care for preterm infants in most high-technology neonatal intensive care units. However, few units practice Kangaroo Mother Care which involves almost continuous skin-to-skin contact. Design. A qualitative descriptive design.Methods. An online questionnaire with open-ended questions was administered to 129 nurses at three neonatal units. Data were analysed with qualitative content analysis.Findings. Nurses believed they would lose control because of limited access to the infant and would not be able to provide adequate care. Nurses also believed that mothers practicing almost continuous skin-to-skin contact would feel trapped and would experience stress if they could not meet the demands of the method.Conclusions. Although the nurses can describe several of the documented benefits of almost continuous skin-to-skin contact, an underuse continues to exist. Relevance for clinical practice. Beliefs described by the nurses are important to consider and resolve if the goal is to implement and provide Kangaroo Mother Care.

Nurses’ Kangaroo Mother Care practice implementation and future challenges: an integrative review

“…Barriers to the implementation of KMC are reflected in nurses’ emotions and their KMC perspectives. Nine separate studies mentioned that insufficient KMC information perspective was one of the major obstacles among staff nurses in promoting KMC. Most nurses perceived the KMC to be implemented properly if newborns are stable , but they are not confident towards implementing the practice among unstable newborns .…”

“…One qualitative study by Morelius et al. found that nurses are afraid of continuous KMC practice in that they may lose control the newborn and, thus, be unable to render adequate nursing care. It is most likely that this low perception level and negative emotions hindered KMC implementation.…”

Early skin‐to‐skin contact for healthy full‐term infants after vaginal and caesarean delivery: a qualitative study on clinician perspectives

“…, Chia et al . , Kymre , Mörelius & Anderson ). Other barriers identified were a lack of knowledge on SSC and nurses being uncomfortable with the practice of early SSC (Chia et al .…”

Physiological benefits to parents from undertaking skin‐to‐skin contact with their neonate, in a neonatal intensive special care unit

“…Skin‐to‐skin contact (SSC) is where a neonate has direct SSC with their parent's chest, whilst wearing only a nappy, with their legs in a frog‐like position and their head turned to face the side . The use of SSC was first introduced by medical professionals to NISC Units by Rey and Martinez in Bogota, Colombia, in 1978, as a way to cope with a shortage of incubators at the hospital . Hospital staff previously had to place neonates in the same incubator, which led to increased rates of infection and a higher mortality rate of premature neonates .…”

“…Sweden Neonatal Intensive Special Care (NISC) Units are currently the leaders in promoting SSC for a longer duration, and also in medical and nursing research on this topic. The healthcare system in Sweden provides parents of neonates who have been admitted to a NISC Unit with parental leave, which allows them the option of staying for extended periods in the NISC Unit and thus an increased opportunity for them to spend longer undertaking SSC .…”