ABSTRACT
Background: Kangaroo mother care (KMC) is a standard of care for preterm and low birth weight babies. To implement KMC in institutional care it was often practiced inside intensive care unit and also in separate ward. In present study authors have tried to evaluate effect of separate kangaroo mother care ward on implementation of kangaroo mother care in tertiary care hospital.Methods: Uncontrolled study before and after establishment of separate kangaroo mother care ward comparing kangaroo mother care in sick new-born care unit versus kangaroo mother care in separate ward.Results: In separate ward, as compared to kangaroo mother care practice in sick newborn care unit, mean (SD) duration of kangaroo mother care increased from 5.3 (1.6) to 11.4 (7.4) hours/day (95%CI 5.0-7.1, p value <0.0001). Mean (SD) weight gain increased from 10.7 (7.0) g/day to 13.7 (11.1) g/day (95% CI 1.0-4.8, p value <0.0024). Incidence of sepsis diminished from 14.0% to 28.9% (95% CI 6.4-23, p value <0.0006). Exclusive breast-feeding rate at discharge (42.3% vs. 57.3%) (95% CI 4.8- 24.9, p value <0.0041) and follow up (49.4% vs. 65.0%) (95% CI 1-29.4, p value <0.0378) increased. Mortality also decreased in this group of patients (8.6% vs.2.3%) (95% CI-1.6-11.4, p value <0.0082).Conclusions: Kangaroo mother care ward is better place than sick new born care unit for providing kangaroo mother care in tertiary care hospital.