1 Preventing Constant Stimulation on Babies in The NICU To Promote Healthy Development University of Central Florida NUR4604L 2 Preventing Constant Stimulation on Babies in The NICU To Promote Healthy Development Problem Statement Stimulation on babies in the NICU results from various factors, including light, sound, touch, sight, and smell. Constant stimulation resulting from regular interaction babies have with these factors might lead to overstimulation, which might cause detrimental effects on babies in the NICU. Overstimulation is a condition where babies in the NICU are experiencing constant stimuli, including sensations, activities, or noises that they cannot bear or handle. When babies come across new random faces or constantly hear people speaking, they might not achieve a calm state, leading to restlessness and discomfort. These discomfort conditions usually have detrimental effects on the babies, including irregular sleep and disrupted feeding patterns, increasing the babies’ stress levels and resulting in a lower immune system. Babies are different, and the perfect stimulation for one baby could be too much for another. Additionally, the things that stress one baby could be relaxing to another baby. When babies experience an overload due to constant stimulation, negative emotions such as anxiety, fear, and anger usually arise. These constant stimulations make a baby’s behavior less logical and organized, adversely affecting the baby’s development. As a result, babies might reject their usual form of stimulation, making it challenging to calm them down. Preventing constant stimulation on babies in the NICU through various techniques will help prevent overstimulation in the NICU and understand specific stimuli that affect every child in the NICU, promoting healthy development. 3 Project Description Proposed Change The proposed change involves learning what overstimulates babies based on their health conditions at birth and behavioral patterns. The proposed change will also include a more profound operation of NICU monitors and equipment to meet each baby’s specific need to prevent constant stimulation (El-Metwally & Medina, 2020). The changes will be made by outlining a baby’s behavioral patterns and condition during birth and matching the information to the most efficient and appropriate collection of monitors and equipment. Babies in the NICU usually experience constant stimulation because the monitors and equipment used on them do not meet their requirements and needs (Vitale et al., 2021). For example, babies who are more sensitive to sound than light will require equipment that focuses on eradicating noise from the surroundings than those that block out light. Healthcare professionals who have learned each child’s condition will monitor how nurses use the appropriate equipment for different babies in the NICU (Dekker et al., 2018). The estimated timeline for the project will be one month. Under teaching requirements, nurses will receive teaching on the different behavioral patterns that babies have and how to identify them. After understanding the different behavioral patterns and their identifications, nurses will learn about stimulations that affect babies with a particular condition or behavioral pattern more than others (Dekker et al., 2018). The teaching will be done through experiments involving babies with well-known needs and behavioral patterns. During the learning process, individuals will monitor how babies with a particular behavior or condition react to light, sound, touch, and smell (El-Metwally & Medina, 2020). The post-implementation evaluation will include a test where nurses will be required to assign 4 appropriate NICU equipment to particular babies and monitor whether they will experience overstimulation (Vitale et al., 2021). When the babies do not experience constant stimulation, which usually leads to overstimulation, the nurses will explain why they think the situation happened that way and vice versa. This post-implementation evaluation will help individuals develop proficiency in understanding specific triggers for every child in the NICU to the extent they will know how to handle every child in case of restlessness or irritation. References Dekker, J., Hooper, S. B., Martherus, T., Cramer, S. J., van Geloven, N., & Te Pas, A. B. (2018). Repetitive versus standard tactile stimulation of preterm infants at birth–a randomized controlled trial. Resuscitation, 127, 37-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resuscitation.2018.03.030 El-Metwally, D. E., & Medina, A. E. (2020). The potential effects of NICU environment and multisensory stimulation in prematurity. Pediatric Research, 88(2), 161-162. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-019-0738-4 Vitale, F. M., Chirico, G., & Lentini, C. (2021). Sensory stimulation in the NICU environment: Devices, systems, and procedures to protect and stimulate premature babies. Children, 8(5), 334. https://doi.org/10.3390/children8050334 Stakeholders The implementation of my project will directly benefit the Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and parents. The NICU will experience improved outcomes improving quality and service delivery. On the other hand, parents will learn more about their children at a tender age, 5 equipping them with the skills to nurture them more healthily. The implementation of my project will help shed light on issues affecting children in the NICU regarding internal and external triggers like light, sound, touch, and smell.
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