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Sunday, 30 October 2011: 2:45 PM
Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to describe the purpose of a web camera connection and provide family scenarios where the web camera was beneficial.
Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to discuss positive and negative issues associated with the web cameras.
In rural Arkansas, women’s health nurses at the state’s only academic medical center have launched and led a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit web camera (NICU webcam) project to transform how separated parents bond with their baby. Those neonates born prematurely, at a low birth weight, or with congenital problems often experience long hospital stays after birth, leaving their families separated from their infants for many months at a time. While the baby remains in the hospital, the mother and family must carry on life as usual, constantly wondering about the well being of their hospitalized baby. With this separation, maternal bonding is difficult, family communication is complicated, and feelings of sadness and anxiety are heightened. In essence, everyone suffers when a baby must be hospitalized. Obstetrical and neonatal nurses at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences sought to eradicate these challenges of family separation from hospitalized babies through an NICU-webcam pilot project. This innovation program is the first in the United States delivering real-time video of hospitalized infants directly to their remote family, often miles away in their homes. A one-way, real-time video feed from the neonate’s bedside is transmitted to a website only accessible to family and selected NICU provider and nursing staff. Mothers and other family members log-in to this security-encrypted website where they can view live video of their NICU hospitalized infant, creating a family-centered monitoring device. A nurse-driven NICU-webcam program has the potential to increase quality of life for not only participating families but also the hospitalized infant by relieving anxiety and cultivating a distant bonding experience. With the possibility of impacting maternal bonding, ease in infant reentry into the home, paternal and sibling attachment, lactation, anxiety, and depression, this innovative program holds promise to significantly impact mothers and their families.