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Webinar: Evidence Based Noise Mitigation in the NICU

Speaker: Sue Bowles, DNP, RNC-NIC

Sound is one of the most overwhelming stimuli that occurs in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Safe sound levels are vital for the healthy development of premature infants. Despite a significant body of evidence developed over the last two decades and the recommendations of numerous organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, much of the sound that occurs in the NICU every day could be defined as harmful noise.

Does your NICU maintain sound levels at or below the AAP recommended noise standard? How can we mitigate NICU noise and modify the environment so it benefits the babies, families and staff? This presentation will be filled with practical solutions that can be implemented in your NICU too!

Our Learning Objectives:

Describe how an Evidence Based Practice Project was used to effect a practice change.
Discuss the importance of noise mitigation in the NICU environment.
Identify three strategies to use when attempting to mitigate sound in the NICU.

Download the flyer: Evidence-Based Noise Mitigation in the NICU

Download the presentations:

Noise Mitigation – Bowles

Noise Mitigation Q & A

Webinar: What’s Posture Got To Do With It?

Speakers: Sandy Conner, PT, and Sandra Carroll, OTR, CIMI

What in the world do hip dysplasia and feeding have in common? Posture! Most caregivers their own techniques for swaddling or wrapping babies as a means to facilitate flexion, promote calming and ensure thermal regulation. However, swaddling techniques and theories vary across the NICU settings. This webinar will first look at the effects of swaddling and positioning on the incidence of hip dysplasia and discuss recommendations for best practice. In the second half of the webinar, we will discuss the importance of the elevated side-lying position as a postural intervention to improve the bottle feeding experience.
Postural alignment has everything to do with enhancing the baby’s success in the NICU and beyond!

Our Learning Objectives:

Understand the importance of proper swaddling and positioning to allow for proper hip joint integrity.
List three reasons for feeding a baby in the elevated side-lying position.

Download the flyer: What’s Posture Got to Do With It?

Download the presentations:

Hip Displagia – Conner

Improving Feeding Outcomes with ESL Position – Carroll

What’s Posture Got To Do With It – Q&A

Webinar: Sleep and the Developing Brain: Introducing a New Practical Assessment Tool

Speaker: Mary Coughlin, RN, MSN, NNP-BC

We will review the latest research on neonatal sleep and the identification of sleep-wake states in preemies and newborns. Mary will also introduce a new, evidence-based Sleep Wake Assessment Tool that will help clinicians at the bedside adapt their care to promote sleep for optimal brain development.

Our Learning Objectives:

Describe two differences between active and quiet sleep.
List three physiologic processes that can be positively or negatively impacted by sleep

Download the flyer: Sleep and the Developing Brain

Download the Presentation: Sleep and the Developing Brain

Download the Sleep and the Developing Brain Q & A with instructions to the video vignettes

Download the Sleep-Wake_Assessment_Tool

Sleep and the Developing Brain Bibliography

Webinar: Creating a Culture of Consistency for Skin to Skin Holding in YOUR Nursery

Speaker: Kara Ann Waitzman, OTR

The benefits and research of skin to skin holding are well understood in the NICU, but often times the implementation is inconsistent and dependent on the clinician caring for the infant. In this presentation we will discuss the common barriers to implementing skin to skin holding, practical tips for creating more confidence by using consistent practices and innovative techniques, as well as the importance of a well-coordinated team.

Our Learning Objectives:

Describe how to support a parent and intubated infant during a skin to skin transfer.
List two techniques to increase consistent practices for skin to skin holding in the NICU.

Download the flyer: Skin to Skin Holding

Questions and Answers from the Webinar: Kangaroo Care Webinar – Questions and Answers

Download the Powerpoint Presentation: Skin to Skin Webinar Presentation – Waitzman

Webinar: “Partnering with Parents: Is It More Than Just a Word?”

Speaker: Liz Drake, RN, MSN, CNS, CNNP

We use the term “Patient and Family Centered Care” very freely; but in reality, is it more than just words?

Does the family see cohesiveness in our team, continuity in information and plan?
Do we build trust by truly partnering with each other, managing each other up and then asking the family what they are hearing, seeing and experiencing?
Do we listen, respect and use each other’s expertise in bringing knowledge and information to the family?

This presentation is also designed to get us thinking about how we partner with each as well as with our patient’s family.

Download the flyer: Partnering With Families

Download the Q&A with Liz Drake: Partnering with Families – Webinar Q&A

Webinar: Moving Beyond the Basics: Neurodevelopmental Positioning in the NICU

Speaker: Chrysty Sturdivant, OTR

Neurodevelopmental Care is a philosophy of care that embraces the individual competency of the sick or preterm infant and supports the baby’s sensory, motor, social-emotional and cognitive skills. Providing support for the developing musculoskeletal system is a key component of this care and is vitally important for future developmental milestones and the promotion of a calm, regulated state. This webinar will help caregivers of all disciplines understand how optimal positioning can improved both long and short term outcomes.

We explored:

The unique characteristics of musculoskeletal maturation in the preterm infant
The most common adverse consequences of mal-positioning
Recommendations for dynamic positioning that supports the developing neuromotor system
How applying these principals at the bedside will ultimately having a positive impact on the long-term developmental outcome of the infant.

Download the flyer: Moving Beyond the Basics

Download the Q&A with Chrysty Sturdivant Moving Beyond the Basics – Webinar Q&A

Webinar: Silent Dangers in Skin Care Products: Three Ingredients you don’t want in the NICU or in YOU!

Speaker: Kathi Salley Randall, RNC, MSN, CNS, NNP-BC

Exposures to chemicals begin early and come from a number of sources. Even babies’ cord blood is contaminated with hundreds of industrial chemical compounds before birth that can be neurotoxic, linked to cancer, and cause birth defects.

Of the more than 90,000 chemicals in use in the US today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has tested only 200 of these for safety and banned only 5 of them since 1976!

There is even an overabundance of harsh and harmful chemicals being used in the hospital environment, even on babies’ fragile skin. Exposures from multiple sources add up and result in a total body burden that can lead to short and long term medical problems, and are potentially contributing to the American epidemic of allergies, asthma, and developmental disabilities.

Download the flyer: Silent Dangers in Skin Care Products