Research evaluates 18-month neurobehavioral outcomes in single-family room neonatal intensive care units

摘要

PROVIDENCE – New research suggests that the environment of care in a neo- natal intensive care unit (NICU) con- tributes not only to the short-term, but also to the long-term neurobehavioral development of preterm infants. Research led by BARRY M. LESTER, PhD , director of the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island and professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at The Warren Alpert Medi- cal School of Brown University, found the single greatest contributor to long- term neurobehavioral development in preterm infants is maternal involve- ment – and that a single-family room NICU allows for the greatest and most immediate opportunities for mater nal involvement. The research, entitled "18-Month Follow-Up of Infants Cared for in a Single-Family Room Neonatal Intensive Care Unit," has been pub- lished in the current issue of The Jour- nal of Pediatrics.