Webinars

Dandle·LION Medical webinars are recorded and can be viewed live, with an opportunity to ask questions, or as a recording. Both ways offer a FREE CEU!! Go to www.dandlelion-webinars.com to register for a current webinar and view all previous webinars.

Webinar: Supporting and Enhancing NICU Sensory Experiences (SENSE)

Webinar Date: Wednesday, June 6: 11 am PT, noon MT; 1 pm CT, 2 pm EST

Supporting and Enhancing NICU Sensory Experiences (SENSE): A new guideline for implementing consistent, developmentally appropriate and positive sensory exposures in the NICU

The goal of the SENSE (Supporting and Enhancing NICU Sensory Experiences) intervention is to engage parents in consistently providing positive, developmentally appropriate sensory exposures to their high-risk infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) every day of hospitalization. The SENSE intervention includes specific doses and targeted timing (based on postmenstrual age, PMA) of evidence-based interventions such as skin-to-skin care, infant massage, auditory exposures, holding, and rocking. The guideline was developed with the intention of optimizing parent engagement, while maximizing daily positive sensory exposures to improve infant development and parent-infant interaction.

In this presentation, the specific guideline on auditory, tactile, vestibular, kinesthetic, olfactory and multi-modal stimulation for preterm infants in the NICU will be described. SENSE development and preliminary evidence will also be discussed.

Faculty: Bobbi Pineda, PhD, OTR/L

Bobbi Pineda is an occupational therapist with Neonatal Therapy National Board Certification. She is an Assistant Professor at Washington University School of Medicine and has been conducting clinical research in the NICU for more than 10 years. The focus of her work has been on defining factors that impede function while developing interventions to optimize outcomes. She leads the Washington University Neonatal Therapy Research lab.. Over the past 5 years, her team has developed and implemented the Supporting and Enhancing NICU Sensory Experiences (SENSE) intervention in the NICU, and they are currently doing a randomized clinical trial on its efficacy. As a scientist and the mother of 3 preterm children, she constantly strives for a better understanding of how to improve outcomes for those who start their lives in the NICU.

Our Learning Objectives:

Understand the importance of consistent, positive and developmentally appropriate sensory exposures in the NICU
Understand research that led to the development of the SENSE intervention and the evidence that supports it
Identify specific targets for tactile, auditory, vestibular, kinesthetic, olfactory, and visual interventions for each week of postmenstrual age

Click here to register for the webinar, listen to the recording and earn a free CE. Download the flyer here: DL Webinar_June2018_Pineda

Webinar: Creating and Sustaining Transformation – Evidence-based Best Practice

Webinar Date: Wednesday, April 4: 9 am PT, 10 am MT; 11 am CT, noon EST

Making change happen, and more importantly, making change stick seems straightforward on the surface. But, for anyone who has embarked on improvement work, there is nothing about the journey that is straightforward. In this webinar, participants will learn the techniques, the strategies, and the habits of improvers that result in measurable and sustainable transformation.

Our Learning Objectives

Describe 3 tactical best practices to create and sustain practice transformation
Describe 3 reflective best practices to create and sustain practice transformation

Go to www.dandlelion-webinars.com to register for the webinar, listen to the recording and earn a free CE.
Download the flyer here: DL Webinar_April2018_Coughlin

Webinar: From Preemie to Young Adult: A 26-year retrospective look at parenting a NICU graduate

Webinar Date: Friday, May 12, 2017: 9 am PT, 10 am MT; 11 am CT, noon EST

Faculty: Laura Mller

Have you ever thought to yourself, “I wonder what happened to that family, once they left the NICU?” Thousands of infants and their parents spend time in NICUs every year, but once they transition to home, we often lose track of them.

Through pictures and stories, Laura will share a long-range view of her life, and of her 27-week twins, after their NICU experience. You’ll hear how a six-month NICU stay impacted every aspect of their lives. Laura will talk candidly about PTSD, disabilities, mental health, coping and adapting; and how she discovered new personal and professional paths as a result of her experiences from the early 1990’s.

Our Learning Objectives:

Identify three long-term effects on parents of a NICU stay
List two minor-morbidities that don’t seem so minor to NICU graduates or their parents
Discuss two strategies to support NICU families during and following their stay in the hospital

Go to www.dandlelion-webinars.com to register for the webinar, listen to the recording (after May 12, 2017) and earn a free CE.

Webinar: 100 Billion Neurons: Exploring the next generation of NICUs designed to support optimal brain development

Webinar Date: Friday, March 17, 2017: 9 am PT, 10 am MT; 11 am CT, noon EST

Faculty: Kathi Salley Randall, RN, MSN, CNS, NNP-BC

At birth, a baby’s brain is made up of about 100 billion neurons, roughly the same number of stars in the Milky Way.

In the NICU there exists many challenges and opportunities when it comes to supporting the health of these neurons and the rapidly developing neonatal brain.

In this presentation, we will review the basics of fetal and neonatal brain development and explore potential social and biological threats to its normal development and how some NICU’s are altering design and culture to optimize brain health.

Our Learning Objective

List the three stages of brain development
Outline the 4 pillars of the next generation NICU
Give an example of how your NICU can alter the environment, a policy, or the overall culture of care to optimize neurodevelopment of babies in the NICU
Go to www.dandlelion-webinars.com to register for the webinar, listen to the recording (after March 17, 2017) and earn a free CE.
You can download the flyer here. .DL Webinar_March2017_Randall

Webinar: Baby It’s Cold Out There: Myths and Facts about Thermoregulation

Webinar Date: Friday, December 2, 2016: 9 am PT, 10 am MT; 11 am CT, noon EST

Faculty: Liz Drake, MN, NNP, CNS, RN-NIC

Evidence shows that hypothermia is an independent risk factor for morbidity and mortality. However, by implementing a few simple modifications to the environment, we can dramatically improve temperature regulation and in turn, infant outcomes
and survival.

Products and devices intended to provide neuro-protection and musculo- skeletal support are standard of care in the NICU. Despite their positive effects on the neonate’s development, these products have complicated the simple task of temperature management; and in turn, have resulted in the need for bedside care givers to rethink our understanding of thermoregulation and modify traditional practices.

In this one-hour presentation our presenter, Liz Drake will dispel several myths related to neonatal temperature management and will offer practical recommendations to provide both a developmentally supportive environment and a neutral thermal environment.

Our Learning Objectives

Describe the primary physiological differences between temperature regulation in the premature and the full term infant
List the 4 methods of heat transfer
Explain the importance of measuring both axillary and skin temperatures when assessing cold stress
Identify at least two signs/symptoms of hypo- and/or hyper-thermia
List two practice, equipment, or environmental modifications to consider when utilizing developmental support devices in the NICU

Go to www.dandlelion-webinars.com to register for the webinar, listen to the recording (after October 2, 2016), earn a free CE and/or download the flyer.

Webinar: Integrating Parents in Newborn Pain Care – Evidence and Implementation

Webinar Date: Friday, October 14, 2016: 9 am PT, 10 am MT; 11 am CT, noon EST

Faculty: Marsha Campbell-Yeo, PhD, NNP-BC, RN

Hospital care and medical interventions are sources of separation and stress, leading to a diminished capacity for the infant to endure painful procedures and situations. Involvement of parents in newborn pain management is of increased interest in both research and clinical settings.

Recent research has focused on finding non-pharmacological interventions or sweet tasting solutions as a substitute to drugs; or at least to decrease the number of drug doses needed for optimal analgesia. There is a growing interest in interventions that involved parents, e.g. skin-to-skin care, breastfeeding, or facilitated tucking.

Despite the growing knowledge base on non-pharmacological interventions, clinicians and parents often struggle with which strategy should be recommended as first line therapy or whether several should be given in combination. In this one-hour seminar presentation, Dr. Marsha Campbell-Yeo will describe the powerful benefits of integrating parents into the neonatal pain management care plan as well as the effective ways to implement these interventions in clinical settings.

Our Learning Objectives:

List at least 2 consequences of untreated procedural pain when experienced in early life
Discuss the current level of evidence related to the effectiveness of health care provider led and maternally led interventions to reduce procedural pain in neonates
Provide examples of two strategies to facilitate clinical implementation of parent led interventions to reduced neonatal pain

Go to www.dandlelion-webinars.com to register for the webinar, listen to the recording (after October 14, 2016), earn a free CE and/or download the flyer.

Webinar: Affective Capabilities and Vulnerabilities of the Hospitalized Infant

Webinar Date: Friday, May 6, 2016: 9 am PT, 10 am MT; 11 am CT, noon EST

Faculty: Mary Coughlin MS, NNP, RNC-E

Normal development of an infant’s “sense-of-self,” and “sense-of-other,” depends in part on an optimally engaged and functional sensory system. Early exposure to trauma — extremely fearful events — and high levels of stress affect the developing brain, particularly in those areas involved with emotions and learning. The amygdala and the hippocampus are two brain structures involved in fear and traumatic stress. These two structures in concert with the insula cortex comprise the neural circuitry for neuroception, the mechanism by which we distinguish whether situations or people are safe, dangerous, or life threatening. This webinar will introduce the learner to the neuroscience underpinning the affective capabilities and vulnerabilities of the hospitalized infant and describe how translation of this information into clinical practice can transform the developmental potential of the hospitalized infant.

Our Learning Objectives:

List the primary sensory afferents innervating human skin and their associated neural pathway.
Explain the difference between emotions and feelings.
Describe neuroception.
Identify 2 caregiving activities that will benefit from this new knowledge.

Go to www.dandlelion-webinars.com to register for the webinar, listen to the recording (after May 7, 2016), earn a free CE and/or download the flyer.

Webinar: Neurobehavioral Assessment of High-Risk Infants in the NICU

Webinar Date: Friday, March 4, 2016: 9 am PT, 10 am MT; 11 am CT, noon EST

Faculty: Bobbi Pineda PhD, OTR/L

Neurobehavioral assessments can be used to evaluate the efficacy of therapeutic interventions, to define and communicate an individual infant’s strengths and weaknesses, and can empower parents to understand the developmental potential of their premature infant. When used to cover the span of a NICU stay, they offer powerful insights and clues to an infant’s brain development and potential challenges for the future.

In this presentation we will discuss the purpose of the neurobehavioral exam, define different assessments available for use with high risk infants in the NICU, and discuss how to administer and interpret assessment results.

Our Learning Objectives:

- Name at least two different areas of function that are evident in early infancy
- List 3 assessment tools that can be used to evaluate preterm and full term infants in the NICU
- Describe at least one way that assessment results can be used to define interventions

Go to www.dandlelion-webinars.com to register for the webinar, listen to the recording (after March 5, 2016), earn a free CE and/or download the flyer.

Webinar: Mitigating Procedural Pain in High-Risk Infants: Challenge and Opportunities

Webinar Date: Friday, December 4, 2015: 9 am PT, 10 am MT; 11 am CT, noon EST

Faculty: Lori Brittingham, MSN, RN, CNS, ACCNS-N

Infants spending time in the neonatal intensive care unit are exposed to a number of painful procedures on a daily basis. For infants with an extended length of stay, this can result in hundred of painful exposure over the course of the first several months of life. A growing body of evidence has shown that unmitigated pain can have deleterious short- and long-term consequences on the developing infant, yet pain in this vulnerable population is often unrecognized and under-treated. This presentation will provide neonatal care team members with the tools required to implement effective environmental and behavioral strategies to minimize the effects of painful exposures in high-risk infants.

Our Learning Objectives:

Discuss the challenges of identifying and addressing pain in infants
Describe two or more negative consequences associated with repeated episodes of unmitigated pain in hospitalized infants
Identify at least two strategies to mitigate procedural pain in high-risk infants

Go to www.dandlelion-webinars.com to register for the webinar, listen to the recording (after December 5, 2015), earn a free CE and/or download the flyer.

Webinar: Providing Comforting Touch to Very Preterm Infants Using the M-Technique

Webinar Date: Friday, September 4, 2015: 9 am PT, 10 am MT; 11 am CT, noon EST

Faculty: Joan Renaud Smith, PhD, RN, NNP-BC and Sandra Conner, BS, PT

Touch is the first sense to develop and is essential to infant neurodevelopment, learning and health. Although the positive effects of massage therapy have been well studied in stable preterm infants, little is known about the effects of a comforting touch technique on infants born very preterm.

Our presenters will describe how their interdisciplinary team developed a novel, infant-driven comforting touch strategy, called the M Technique. They will also share the results of a recent research project in which they investigated the effect of the M Technique on very preterm infants, who were less than 30 weeks gestation.

The M Technique is a new evidence-based intervention that is easy to learn, can be taught to parents, and may also be provided to patients of any age both inside and outside of the NICU

Our Learning Objectives:

Summarize the current evidence related to at least one benefit of preterm infant massage
Describe the process to deliver the “M-Technique” to a preterm infant in the NICU
List at least one neurodevelopmental outcome of providing the “M Technique” to preterm infants

Go to www.dandlelion-webinars.com to register for the webinar, listen to the recording (after September 5, 2015), earn a free CE and/or download the flyer.