The Impact of Implementing NIDCAP on Preterm Infants in the NICU
The Impact of Implementing NIDCAP on Preterm Infants in the NICU
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the NIDCAP program of individualized
 patient consultation on the neurobehavioral organization of transported preterm infants in
 the NICU. Behavioral response to routine caregiving will be compared between infants in the
 pre-NIDCAP group to infants in the post-NIDCAP group. And it is this behavioral response that
 will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the NIDCAP program.
Therapies that have brought about sharp decreases in neonatal mortality have not brought
 about similar decreases in neurodevelopmental morbidity for preterm infants. Developmentally
 supportive care is NICU care that seeks to optimize the developmental course and outcomes for
 preterm infants. While other staff training programs for developmentally supportive care
 exist, it is the Newborn Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) that has been the
 methodology used in randomly controlled trials that demonstrate positive medical and
 neurobehavioral outcomes for preterm infants receiving developmentally supportive care. NICUs
 that care for all out-born or transported infants face unique challenges in balancing
 developmentally supportive nursing care with the high-technological medical needs of the most
 critically ill and extremely premature infants. Yet it is these most fragile infants who can
 most benefit from the positive impact the NIDCAP program can offer. Yet, there are no
 published studies documenting the impact of the NIDCAP program on neurobehavioral outcomes of
 these transported preterm infants exclusively.

 Objectives: The objective of this project is to study the impact of implementing the NIDCAP
 program of individualized patient consultation on the neurobehavioral organization of
 transported preterm infants in the NICU of a major pediatric medical center.

 Research Methods: A random sample of approximately 40 preterm infants will be recruited to
 participate in this descriptive study. In this phase-lag design, 20 infants will participate
 in the pre-NIDCAP intervention phase and 20 infants will participate in the post-NIDCAP
 intervention phase. Each infant within each phase will be videotaped during 2 routine
 nurse-caregiving sessions. The first session will occur within 72 hours of admission to the
 NICU at Children's Memorial Hospital (CMH). The second session will occur when the infant is
 34-36 weeks corrected gestational age. The videotapes will be collected so that observations
 of the infant's physical environment and caregiving and an assessment of the infant's
 behavioral function can be scored randomly at the end of the study by an outside consultant
 without bias as to what phase the infant participated. In addition, demographic data will be
 collected on the sample infants. Data will be subjected to descriptive statistics,
 inferential statistics and correlational procedures.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  preterm infants born at less than or equal to 32 weeks gestation, appropriate for
 gestational age in weight

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  congenital or chromosomal abnormality, history of maternal substance abuse