Promote parent involvement (FICare)
Family Integrated Care (FICare) reduces stress in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for parents, babies and staff by supporting and educating parents to take an active role in their baby’s care. Family Integrated Care has proven to positively influence emotional, mental and physical healthOB of premature or low-birth-weight babies and of their parents. By eliminating monitoring wires, the Bambi Belt promotes and simplifies FICare.
Remove wires to promote and simplify FICare
Elimination of wires through use of the Bambi Belt decreases physical barriers.
One of the overwhelming emotions for parents of a newborn receiving intensive care is helplessness. Seeing their baby in an incubator or needing nursing staff to hold and handle the child can be extremely stressful for parentsFRMC. The wires discourage parents to partner in their infant’s NICU care (Family Integrated Care)FR. The almost complete elimination of wires through use of the Bambi Belt decreases the physical barrier between them and their babiesMC. The nursing staff can start to train the parents to handle the baby much earlier.
Because staff performing FICare explicitly invite and teach parents, parents are less afraid to pick up their loved one, and more eager and able to change diapers, check temperature, administer oral medications and breastfeedCH. The absence or reduction of wires makes these care tasks easier, and thus encourages FICare even more. Performing these care tasks gives parents back some control and increases their confidence as a primary caregiverCHFR. They experience less anxiety and a lower risk of postpartum depressionCHFRMC.
With the FICare approach, less hospital attendance is needed. But more importantly, it leads to healthier babiesCOFRMCMBOBPTNY. They grow fasterCHFROB, have less stressCHFR, suffer from fewer infectionsVE and receive fewer antibiotic treatmentsMC. Their mental and psychomotor development is betterFROB. Their NICU stay and hospital stay are shorter MCPT and they are less likely to be readmittedCHPT.
Through stimulating and simplifying Family Integrated Care, by amongst other using the Bambi Belt for monitoring vital signs, babies are probably healthier and happier and need shorter intensive care than babies monitored with traditional ECG wires.
By using the Bambi Belt, babies' skin isn't harmed when adhesive electrodes need to be replaced or removed. And because babies' skin isn't harmed, babies experience less pain and are less vulnerable to infections CAPO. By reducing stress in parents and promoting and simplifying FICare parent participation, it also reduces total workload for NICU staff through task delegation and earlier hospital dischargeCOMO.
Staff get to safely and more accurately monitor babies without being afraid of harming babies’ skin
The Bambi Belt
By eliminating monitoring wires, the Bambi Belt promotes and simplifies FICare. The Bambi Belt monitors the heart rate and detects apneas of babies with a blue silicone belt. The white Bambi Bridge sends the data to the Bambi Interface, which is connected to the patient monitor.
Eliminating wires improves Kangaroo Care, promotes Family Integrated Care and reduces pain and stress for the baby. This means that NICU babies can grow and heal faster and bond better with their parents. The NICU environment will be much more relaxed for parents, staff and the babies, making babies' lives better.
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