Newborn Individual Development Care and Assessment Program NIDCAP

To improve long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes of premature infants, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) environment and its impacts on the infants during their hospital stay are at the heart of attention. Important advancements have been made in developmental care in NICUs, which have led to several positive effects on promoting attachment, breastfeeding, and neurological development of preterm infants. The fundamentals of NIDCAP (Neonatal Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program), derived from Synactive Theory , are based on developmental sequence of fetal neurological components (autonomic, motor, state organizational, and attentional system). The importance of developmental care can truly be emphasized according to early phases of in uterine fetal development, strongly influenced by sensory stimuli and interactions with the environment. Since the premature brain has limited capability to filter the vast amounts of inputs, excessive light and noise, invasive procedures and even routine monitoring can easily interfere with infants’ natural sleep cycles and therefore result in stress. NIDCAP was primarily developed in the Children’s Hospital of Boston. This method deals with enduring regular systematic observations of premature infants’ behavior, at intervals of 7 to 10 days. The infants are watched throughspecific schedules in 2-minute cycles, before, during, and after a care procedure (such as diaper change). When observation is completed, the neurological signals are summarized and then synchronized to the events around. Observed behaviors and physiological responses are interpreted and categorized as either sign of approach (self-regulation) or avoidance (insufficient self-regulation).The results of these observations enable the caregivers to architect individualized care plans. Applying NIDCAP may reduce the length of NICU stay and ultimately medical costs. Generally, no undesirable or side effects have been reported with NIDCAP in different studies. Although the theoretical framework of developmental care interventions is supported by medical research, small clinical trials have been conducted on limited numbers of infants so far. This may ideally be amended in near future by precise follow-up strategies in growth and development outpatient clinics.

کلیدواژه ها:

NIDCAP ، Development ، Individual care ، Newborn