Implementing Early Kangaroo Mother Care: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

Abstract

Background: Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) has numerous maternal and neonatal benefits. KMC is often overlooked as a vital neonatal stabilization tool. Factors that influence the initiation of KMC by bedside staff include a lack of specific education on KMC, low confidence, and hesitancy due to the infant's clinical illness. Parents can pick up on the staff's hesitancy and may not realize they can request to hold their baby.

Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement (QI) project was to decrease the time to the first opportunity for eligible neonates for KMC within the first 24 hours.

Method: The location of the project was in a 35-bed NICU, private, and semi-private room mix. The project leads revised, updated, and received facility approval for a KMC policy. Parent education was provided via a bi-lingual pamphlet and video. KMC Champions were utilized to increase early KMC rates.

Results: During the 12th week of the 3-month monitoring period, all eligible infant dyads were held within the first 24 hours, achieving the goal of 100%. Offering various educational opportunities led to enthusiastic staff participation. Additionally, reinforcement of importance and exposure to KMC led to an increase in staff buy-in.

Implications for practice and research: Increasing staff knowledge on the importance of KMC may lead to increased confidence and competence, and a potential decrease in apprehension in offering and performing KMC. Further research needs to explore and define causes of staff hesitancy that lead to a decrease in KMC opportunities.