Change Project Plan Analysis

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.

With the introduction of the SBAR tool, it is critical that leaders as well as all members of the health team demonstrate effective communication skill. As a result of leadership and communication, there are rules and processes according to (ACOG, 2012) there a process for guiding the handoff process includes; interactive communications, limited interruptions, a process for verification and an opportunity to review any relevant historical data. According to (ACOG, 2012), Properly executed hand-offs are interactive and include the opportunity for questions and answers. It continued by saying that every important aspect of the patient's condition and circumstances must be accurately communicated and acknowledged from one party to the other for a safe and effective handoff to occur. Communication at the time of handoff should result in a clear understanding by each team member. Patient handoff report and clinical communication can be improved to promote high quality medical and nursing care. Hand off reports are the most common type of communication between nurses. Ineffective hand offs can have negative consequences on a client's health. There can be delay in care if the information received is not clear and concise. The wrong type of treatment and a risk for inadequate care may also occur. Effective and efficient communication during hand offs in the clinical setting not only increased client satisfaction and outcomes, but created an environment that promoted staff fulfillment as well. A nurse’s primary concern is the safety of patients. Effective communication is a necessary tool in minimizing client harm and maximizing quality of

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

Communication is only effective when the receiver understands the message conveyed just as the sender wanted to. There are opportunities for improvement in the areas of communication network within Baptist Memorial Healthcare. I have observed a breakdown in communication between nurses and the patients they are caring for. A lot of times the nurse companion phones that the nurses are issued do not work properly. In this instance, the nurse is unaware of patient’s specific needs. There is not a direct line of communication to inform the nurse that the patient needs assistance. The organization is aware of this fact and is implementing training on new nurse companion phones, so that; the needs of the patient are met in a timely fashion. There

Kangaroo Mother Care is a method of holding an infant in a certain position to help improve health. Although there are many articles supporting this statement, a literature review is still necessary to show credibility. This paper will provide an overview on the various research articles by explaining the supportive measures for the PICOT, comparing and contrasting the articles, and analyzing the evidence found regarding the study.

Kangaroo mother care was first started in Colombia in 1978. This practice involves an infant being placed skin-to-skin with a parent, early breastfeeding and discharge as well as follow up care (Conde-Aguelo, Belizan & Diaz-Rossello, 2012). Evidence has shown that this practice compared to the use of an incubator for infants with low birth weight has significantly decreased infant mortality. The benefits that this practice provides are stabilization of newborn temperature, lowered risk of infection, increase in newborn growth, and shorter hospital stay (Conde-Aguelo, Belizan & Diaz-Rossello, 2012). Although there are numerous benefits to kangaroo care, it’s implementation in neonatal intensive units has been limited. According to 129 neonatal

This particular article can greatly improve nursing and patient care for preterm infants that are impacted by hypothermia. This article primarily discusses the benefits, instructions, and uses that kangaroo care provides to the patient. Not only does kangaroo care treat hypothermia, but it also helps infant with breastfeeding, decreases the mother’s post-partum depression, and decrease the other health complications that can arise from being a preterm infant. Kangaroo care has been around for decades, however, there is an increase in the amount of research showing positive results from kangaroo care. This particular article would be a considerable article to use when starting a project in the hospital using kangaroo care. Implementing kangaroo

If the infant or mother is medically unstable, implementing kangaroo care can be difficult and contradictory. However, without barriers such as safety, there is no valid reason to not advocate for immediately placing the infant on mother’s chest. These moments are essential for both the mother and child’s growth and development. Additionally, many nurses understand that kangaroo care is important, but do they know why? Nurses may not be aware of the endless benefits, and if they knew more, may be more likely to encourage it on the job. Furthermore, nurses are the first line to educate, as they have the most patient contact. If the nurses fully understand the many benefits, they can rely this information to each patient that passes through their care, continuing the education phenomenon, and therefore benefiting the entire

Kangaroo care is a method of holding a baby that involves skin-to-skin contact. The baby is placed in an upright position against a parent's bare chest. This snuggling of the infant inside the pouch of their parent's shirt, much like a kangaroo's pouch, led to the creation of the term "kangaroo care.” Kangaroo care was first popularized in Colombia in the 1970s, where it was developed as an alternative to inadequate and insufficient incubator care for preterm newborn infants (World Health Organization (WHO), 2003). In the decades that have past since, kangaroo care has been promoted as more than an alternative to incubator care; it has proven effective for thermal control, breastfeeding and bonding in all newborn infants, irrespective of setting,

In 2014, Hillary Moore, a student in the DNP program, published an article titled “Improving Kangaroo Care Policy and Implementation in the Neonatal Intensive Care” in the Journal of Neonatal Nursing. In the article she mentioned that the “immediate separation between mother and infant” could have negative effects on the health of the mother and of the infant (2014). Due to the risk of impaired attachment or bonding of the mother and infant, she advises to practice kangaroo care during each visit. She defines kangaroo care as “the act of skin-to-skin contact between mother and infant.” Kangaroo care was first introduced in 1983 in Bogota, Columbia. One advantage of kangaroo care is that it does not cost money to do it or implement it. On the

Thank you for your thoughts on this week's topic. Kangaroo care as a routine nursing intervention in the stabilization of vital signs in preterm infants. Important safety concern to keep in mind when implementing this type of care is improving staff communication, according to a study done by Lippincott Nursing Center nurses are hesitant of providing this type of care because of safety concerns of whether the benefits outweigh the risks. This is especially true in infants that require mechanical ventilation or other supportive equipment. This apprehension can be related to the lack of communication between leaders and among staff. Educating staff about the important of skin-to-skin is important as well.

The article “Kangaroo care in Pre-term and Low Birth Weight Babies in a Postnatal Ward” was written by Sarah Gregson and Jonathan Blacker and was published in the British Journal of Midwifery. This study was the first in the UK to investigate Kangaroo care for stable low birth weight infants and infants at risk for hypoglycemia in a transitional care/ postnatal ward setting. The purpose of this cohort study was to compare the effects of Kangaroo care (skin-to-skin contact with mother) on length of stay, feeding, and parent satisfaction for premature, low birth weight, and babies born to diabetic mothers versus standard care in the control group.

Several of the articles about kangaroo care focused on implementation. There is much research about the benefits but the number of neonates receiving this care is discouraging. The study of kangaroo care began many years ago but the information is not being utilized. Having the mother and newborn experience skin to skin, chest to chest contact was first studied in 1970 (Ludington-Hoe, 2011). The progress of implementing kangaroo care by nurses in the United States is a slow process. The slow progression is likely due to the lack of education and understanding of the benefits of kangaroo care. It is suggested that nurses be trained on the use of kangaroo care and how it can positively affect patient outcomes.

The article chosen is titled, “A comparison of kangaroo mother care and conventional incubator care for thermal regulation of infants.” Within this article, the author demonstrates the need for this study by emphasizing that no other research has compared kangaroo care to incubator care. The author believes that kangaroo care can be very beneficial, thus the reason the author chose to do a study to whether or not kangaroo care is effective for treating infants with hypothermia. The problem that the author was concerned about for this study was whether mothers would be willing to participate in the study. This was a problem for this study because most of the mothers wanted their infants to be in the nursery in an incubator rather

According to Feldman et al. (2002), there are more positive interactions between mothers and preterm infants who participate in kangaroo care than there are between mothers and preterm infants who do not participate in the intervention. There are also more positive interactions between mothers and preterm infants who participate in