Medical garments for assisting in skin-to-skin holding of infants in neonatal intensive care units

Abstract

A medical apparatus for assisting a person in skin-to-skin holding of an infant on the person's chest or stomach. The medical apparatus includes a garment having a chest portion with a midline opening extending from a neck opening. The garment is adapted to fit a wide range of different-sized persons by having adjustable-sized sides. Loop material for a hook-and-loop fastener is attached to outside surfaces of the garment. The loop material includes chest portions, stomach portions, shoulder portions, or combinations thereof. One or more straps are provided. Each strap includes hook material to form the hook-and-loop fastener(s) so that each strap may be removably attached to the loop material using the hook material to secure medical equipment to the garment while holding the infant within the garment and against the person. This medical equipment may include IV tubing, ventilator tubing, nasogastric tubing, or combinations thereof, extending from the infant.

Description

[0001] This application claims the priority benefit of commonly owned U.S. Provisional Patent Application having Ser. No. 60 / 662,290 entitled GARMENT FOR ASSISTING PARENT IN SKIN-TO-SKIN HOLDING OF INFANT IN NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT filed on Mar. 16, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference.TECHNICAL FIELD [0002] The present invention generally relates to medical equipment. More particularly, the present invention relates to medical garments for use in skin-to-skin holding of an infant in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). BACKGROUND [0003] Preterm infants often require hospitalization and some require the care of a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Skin-to-skin holding has been reported as a valuable intervention for preterm infants for over a decade. However, many neonatal intensive care units are not practicing this therapy; citing the lack of protocols and techniques as a barrier. [0004] In an article entitled “Holding the Very Low Birth Weight Infant: Skin-to-...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011] The problems and needs outlined above may be addressed by embodiments of the present invention. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a medical apparatus is provided that includes a garment, one or more patches of hook or loop material, and one or more straps. The garment is adapted to cover at least part of a chest area of a person while the person...

Problems solved by technology

However, many neonatal intensive care units are not practicing this therapy; citing the lack of protocols and techniques as a barrier.

Although most units reported that they accommodate parent requests for skin-to-skin holding, few nurseries offer or encourage its routine practice.

Further, infants receiving many common NICU treatments were not considered candidates for this intervention, and only eight percent of the NICUs made skin-to-skin holding available to infants on high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV).

Perceived barriers include lack of protocols or guidelines for safe implementation, and 64 percent of the nurseries reportedly experienced difficulties with implementation.

Although nestling an infant on a parent's chest is a very positive experience for both, the actual transfer of the baby from the bed to the parent can be stressful for the NICU infant.

These considerations are most challenging with the first holding and when the infant's acuity increases.

The newly delivered mother may have physical compromises that make it difficult or impossible for her to be in the NICU or to participate actively while she is there.

In the NICU, that desire may intensify, and parents may express the desire, presuming it s impossible to hold their baby.

Parents also may be reluctant to hold him for fear of causing him injury.

Staff may inadvertently contribute to this perception when discussing plans for holding with the parents, especially while the infant is still below a certain weight, less than a specified age, and / or on a particular support, such as the ventilator.

Skin-to-skin holding can be very effective for low-birth-weight, technology-dependent infants, but such holding can be difficult and cumbersome due to various tubes and hoses needing to be routed to the infant.

Also, skin-to-skin holding may need to be performed for long periods of time in some cases.

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