Date of Award

Fall 2022

Document Type

Project

Degree Name

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Committee Chair

Tracy Arnold

Abstract

The benefits of skin-to-skin contact has been well documented for both infants and mothers. Out of all the different modes of delivery a pregnant patient can have, skin-to-skin contact is performed the least amount for mothers who delivery via cesarean section compared to mothers who have a vaginal delivery. All mothers, should they choose, should be allowed to have skin-to-skin contact with their infant in the operating room. This project was designed to increase skin-to-skin contact between a mother and their infant shortly after birth via cesarean section at least 75% of the time. Education was conducted during team huddles and staff meetings to promote skin-to-skin contact, shortly after birth, in stable infants in a local community hospital. A collaboration of interdisciplinary team members occurred to encourage skin-to-skin contact for stable infants born by cesarean section and to make sure that documentation reflected when skin-to-skin contact was initiated and discontinued. Chart audits would be conducted for two months after team members were educated, to ensure all team members were practicing the new process change. Leadership was on board to coach and counsel staff that were not practicing the new process. Skin-to-skin contact is recommended by the World Health Organization and is best practice for all nursing staff and patients.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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Nursing Commons

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