Implementing infant and family-centred developmental care: Exploring the impact of an innovative educational initiative.

Aim: Evidence-based standards for infant and family-centred developmental care are shaping neonatal care. However, the translation of theory and evidence into practice is challenging. This study aimed at exploring the mechanisms by which a structured learning and mentoring model influences the implementation of infant and family-centred developmental care within neonatal practitioners' own clinical practice.

Non-evidence-based beliefs increase inequalities in the provision of infant- and family-centred neonatal care.

Aim: To identify barriers that might explain why healthcare staff struggle to implement infant- and family-centred developmental care programmes in two neonatal intensive care units in Mexico.

Methods: Ethnographic fieldwork over the course of 10 months examined interactions among healthcare professionals, parents and babies in two Mexican publicly funded hospitals. Data are drawn from interviews with 29 parents and 34 healthcare professionals and participant observations in the hospitals' neonatal units.

Creating a Holding Environment for Caregivers.

The quality of care that families and infants receive during their time on the neonatal unit will be influenced by the well-being of the people who care for them. The emotional work of caring for infants and families in this demanding setting often goes unrecognized and can result in stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue, which in turn are a threat to the quality of care. Resilience and well-being can be fostered by encouraging self-maintenance, supportive systems organization, providing a healthy working environment, education, and opportunities for reflection.

The validity and reliability of the EValuation of INtervention Scale: preliminary report.

Aim: Pain management is a priority for infants receiving neonatal care as they undergo many necessary painful and stressful interventions, which are associated with negative short- or long-term consequences. This study aims to validate the content, and test the reliability, of the EValuation of INtervention Scale (EVIN), which is designed to evaluate the use of widely recommended nonpharmacological strategies to reduce neonatal pain and stress during procedures.

Methods: The content of the EVIN was validated with multidisciplinary participation (N = 80), and consistency was established via observations on preterm infants (N = 12, at 31-34 weeks' gestation) during interventions in a neonatal unit.

Parental involvement and kangaroo care in European neonatal intensive care units: a policy survey in eight countries.

Objective: To compare, in a large representative sample of European neonatal intensive care units, the policies and practices regarding parental involvement and holding babies in the kangaroo care position as well as differences in the tasks mothers and fathers are allowed to carry out.

Design: Prospective multicenter survey.

Setting: Neonatal intensive care units in eight European countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom).

Heel blood sampling in European neonatal intensive care units: compliance with pain management guidelines.

Objective: To describe the use of heel blood sampling and non-pharmacological analgesia in a large representative sample of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in eight European countries, and compare their self-reported practices with evidence-based recommendations.

Methods: Information on use of heel blood sampling and associated procedures (oral sweet solutions, non-nutritive sucking, swaddling or positioning, topical anaesthetics and heel warming) were collected through a structured mail questionnaire. 284 NICUs (78% response rate) participated, but only 175 with ≥50 very low birth weight admissions per year were included in this analysis.

Parents, siblings and grandparents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. A survey of policies in eight European countries.

Objective: To describe policies towards family visiting in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) and compare findings with those of a survey carried out 10 years earlier.

Methods: A questionnaire on early developmental care practices was mailed to 362 units in eight European countries (Sweden, Denmark, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Italy). Of them 78% responded, and among those responded, 175 reported caring for at least 50 very low birth weight infants every year and their responses were analysed further.

Lower stress responses after Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program care during eye screening examinations for retinopathy of prematurity: a randomized study.

Objective: Screening examination for retinopathy of prematurity is distressing and painful. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether a Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program intervention during a retinopathy of prematurity examination results in less adverse behavioral, pain, and stress responses as compared with standard care.

Methods: The first 2 eye examinations in 36 preterm infants were evaluated.

Facilitating infant adaptation: the nursery environment.

The physical and social environment of the nursery is a direct and indirect influence on the development of premature infants. Qualities in the environment affect physiological stability and provide sensory experience that is relevant to brain development. Adaptation of the prematurely born infant to the unexpected surroundings of the neonatal intensive care unit can be facilitated when the infant's developmental needs are understood and characteristics of the environment are adapted accordingly.