Developmental care education in Australian surgical neonatal intensive care units: A cross-sectional study of nurses' perceptions.

Background: Nurse perceptions of developmental care practices have been researched globally for almost 30 years. Yet, there is a lack of research exploring this subject in the specialised setting of the surgical neonatal intensive care unit (sNICU). This research explores the effect of developmental care education programs on sNICU nurses' perceptions of developmental care. Objective: To determine perceptions and attitudes towards developmental care in a specialty neonatal setting. Design: Cross-sectional study. Settings: Two surgical neonatal intensive care units in Australia. Participants: Registered nurses permanently employed at the study sites between May 2021 to April 2022. Methods: A modified electronic survey explored sNICU nurse perceptions of developmental care organised around three themes: effects of developmental care on parents and infants, application of developmental care, and unit practices. Associations between site, nurse characteristics, developmental care education and nurses' perceptions were explored using logistic regression [odds ratios (OR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI)]. Results: Of 295 sNICU nurses, 117 (40 %) participated in the survey. Seventy-five percent of respondents had attended a formal developmental care education program. High levels of agreement (>90 %) were reported regarding the benefits of developmental care for parents and infants. Exposure to developmental care education influenced perceptions of its application. Nurses without formal developmental care education were more likely to agree that it was consistently applied [OR:3.3, 95%CI:1.3-8.6], developmental care skills are valued [OR:2.7, 95%CI:1.1-6.8], and that their nursing peers offered support in its application ([OR:2.5, 95%CI:1.1-6.2]. Conclusions: The results from our research suggest sNICU nurses have a high level of awareness of developmental care and its positive impacts. Despite differences between the surveyed units' developmental care education programs, the value of developmental care in reducing stress for infants and supporting families was collectively recognised. Future research in this setting should focus on evaluating the application of developmental care in this setting.

The Evolution of an Interdisciplinary Developmental Round in a Surgical Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

BACKGROUND: Developmentally supportive environments are known to improve medical outcomes for hospitalized neonates and are considered the overarching philosophy for practice in the neonatal setting. Developmental rounds are a strategy incorporated by multidisciplinary teams to support development within and beyond the neonatal unit. Typically, they consist of bedside consultations and individualized developmentally supportive recommendations for families and clinicians. Globally, the use of developmental rounds has been described since the early 1990s. They are viewed as a measure to counter some of the barriers to developmental care implementation while buffering against the effect of an intensive care admission. To date, their use in the surgical neonatal intensive care unit (sNICU) has been minimally reported in literature. PURPOSE: This article describes the focus and work of a developmental round team and strategy in the sNICU. METHOD: A retrospective audit of developmental round key performance criteria undertaken over a 4-year period (2015-2018). FINDINGS/RESULTS: More than 300 developmental consults and 2000 individualized developmental recommendations occurred annually. Parental presence during the developmental round increased by 10%, from 48% to 58%, during the audit period. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE/IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH: Literature has supported the use of developmental round interventions; however, minimal data have been reported to date. This article provides retrospective audit data of a developmental round intervention in the sNICU with a focus on data over 4 years to highlight key areas, including the structure and process, recommended educational standards for team members, and parental engagement, as key markers for developmental round efficacy. Future research should focus on the link between the developmental round intervention and long-term neonatal outcomes.

The effects of education levels of developmental care in Australia: Perceptions and challenges.

BACKGROUND: Developmental care consists of a range of clinical, infant-focused, and family-focused interventions designed to modify the neonatal intensive care environment and caregiving practices to reduce stressors on the developing brain. Since the inception of developmental care in the early 1980s, it has been recommended and adopted globally as a component of routine practice for neonatal care. Despite its application for almost 40 y, little is known of the attitude of neonatal nurses in Australia towards the intervention. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to establish Australian neonatal nurse perceptions of developmental care and explore associations between developmental care education levels of the nurses and personal beliefs in the application of developmental care. DESIGN: This involves a cross-sectional survey design. METHODS: An online questionnaire was completed by 171 neonatal nurses. Participants were members of the Australian College of Neonatal Nursing (n = 783). Covariate associations between key components of developmental care and respondents' geographical location, place of employment, professional qualifications, and developmental care education level were analysed. The reporting of this study is in accordance with the Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys. RESULTS: Differences were observed between groups for geographical location, place of employment, and professional qualification level. Rural nurses were less likely to support the provision of skin-to-skin care (odds ratio [OR]: 0.6, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.2-1.8) than nurses in a metropolitsan unit. Nurses working in a neonatal intensive care unit and nurses with postgraduate qualifications were more likely to support parental involvement in care ([OR: 2.3, 95% CI: 0.9-6.2] and [OR: 2.1, 95% CI: 0.6-7.4], respectively). Rural respondents were more likely to have attended off-site education (OR: 3.6, 95% CI: 1.3-9.9) than metropolitan respondents. CONCLUSION: The application of developmental care in Australia may be influenced by inadequate resources and inequitable access to educational resources, and similar challenges have been reported in other countries. Overcoming the challenges requires a focused education strategy and support within and beyond the neonatal intensive care unit.

Individualised developmental care for babies and parents in the NICU: Evidence-based best practice guideline recommendations.

Advances in neonatal care have improved survival of premature and critically ill infants; and while rates of some long-term neurodevelopmental problems in survivors have improved, such as cerebral palsy, there are others such as learning and behavioural difficulties that have not. The goal of improving long term neurodevelopmental morbidity has led to an increased focus on improving developmental care not only in neonatal long term follow- up clinics but within the NICU itself to capture the period of earliest brain neuroplasticity. The application of a systematic approach to improve practice is considered the most effective strategy for implementing neuroprotective developmentally supportive care. The content of this paper incorporates evidence-based systematic reviews to guide clinicians in the application of developmentally supportive interventions.

Inter-observer reliability in reading amplitude-integrated electroencephalogram in the newborn intensive care unit.

AIM: Amplitude-integrated electroencephalogram (aEEG) is widely used in neonates to detect electrical seizure and predict outcome following hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy and other encephalopathy. Because accurate interpretation is important for clinical decision-making and family counselling, inter-observer reliability is a major concern. We aimed to evaluate inter-observer reliability in the interpretation of aEEG tracings in a neonatal intensive care unit. METHODS: Three neonatal intensive care unit clinicians with different levels of experience in reading aEEG independently reviewed and scored aEEG traces using standardised criteria, categories and interpretation rules. Inter-observer reliability was evaluated using weighted Cohen's κ and intra-class correlation coefficients. RESULTS: All 131 tracings from 120 neonates were reviewed by the neontalogist, 128 (97.7%) by the clinical nurse specialist, 73 (55.7%) by the nurse educator and 70 (53.4%) by all three clinicians. The majority (88 of 120, 73.3%) were term infants (mean gestational age 38 weeks, standard deviation 3.2). Average duration of recording was 27 h (standard deviation 19.1, range 1-105 h). Inter-observer reliability varied across categories and observers - from very good to excellent for the main background activity (intra-class correlation coefficients 0.93-0.98); good to very good for seizures; and moderate to very good for sleep-wake cycle and quality of recording (weighted κs' 0.71-0.85, 0.50-0.75, 0.46-0.81, respectively). CONCLUSION: While certain aEEG features appear challenging to inter-observer reliability, our findings suggest that with training and consensus guidelines, levels of reliability needed to enhance clinical and prognostic usefulness of aEEG are achievable across clinicians with different levels of experience in reading aEEG.

The development and implementation of a hospital based paediatric orthopaedic nursing transition program.

Within Australia and the rest of the world paediatric orthopaedic nursing as a subspeciality nursing workforce faces challenges due to a lack of formal education programs that support the development of knowledge. Despite these challenges the need to ensure the availability of competent and knowledgeable nursing staff to positively contribute to health care outcomes remains unchanged. Thus a need has arisen to develop locally implemented education programs. A multi-tiered paediatric orthopaedic nursing transition program which incorporates work based learning processes combined, with formal assessment components, has been designed utilising Benner's "theory of novice to expert" to facilitate the growth of experts in the clinical setting driven by the requirements of individual clinical settings. The implementation of this program has led to increased confidence in the clinical setting for nursing staff which has positively influenced the care of children and their families in the orthopaedic service.