Kangaroo position during neonatal ground ambulance transport: Parents' experiences

Abstract

Background: Kangaroo mother care including skin-to-skin care aims to overcome the negative effects of separating parents and infants and to increase the quality of care for infants and parents in need of neonatal care. In most cases where inter-hospital transport is needed, the infant is placed in a transport incubator, which increases the risk of separation due to ambulance service restrictions that imply that parents are not allowed to accompany these transport trips.Aim: To illuminate parents' experiences of holding their infant in a kangaroo position during neonatal ground ambulance transport.Study design: A qualitative design with an inductive approach.Methods: A total of 11 open interviews with Swedish parents were conducted two to seven days after their infant had been transferred in a kangaroo position between hospitals. The transcribed interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis.Results: The emerged overarching category was "an uninterrupted closeness chain."The parents experienced that holding their infant during the transport extended the time they were close to their infant. Using the kangaroo position during ground ambulance transport also created a feeling of being important as a parent, as their participation during transport was appreciated. Parents' experiences were allocated into three categories: "Strengthen the feeling of being important as a parent," "promote security and create a positive environment for the baby" and "the professionals' attitude promotes security." Conclusion and relevance for clinical practice: This knowledge about parents' experiences is important in the continued work to develop interventions that focus on promoting zero separation in neonatal care. Using kangaroo position in a safety harness during ambulance transport enhances zero separation and closeness. To encourage the implementation of kangaroo position during ambulance transport, further research is needed to address parents' experiences of zero separation during transport of infants to a higher level of care.

Factors influencing the perception of feeling safe in pre‐hospital emergency care: A mixed‐methods systematic review

“…The sample sizes ranged from seven to 65 subjects. Data were collected by means of interviews (Ahl & Nyström, 2012; Jepsen et al, 2019; Lundqvist et al, 2021; Venesoja et al, 2020), semi‐structured interviews (Kingswell et al, 2015; Magnusson & Granskar, 2005) and focus groups (Péculo‐Carrasco et al, 2020). The three articles with a quantitative methodology followed a cross‐sectional descriptive observational design (Péculo‐Carrasco et al, 2013, 2021; Salminen‐Tuomaala et al, 2018), with sample sizes between 169 and 1011 subjects.…”

“…Four studies were performed in Sweden (Ahl & Nyström, 2012; Jepsen et al, 2019; Lundqvist et al, 2021; Magnusson & Granskar, 2005), three in Spain (Péculo‐Carrasco et al, 2013, 2021; Péculo‐Carrasco et al, 2020), two in Finland (Salminen‐Tuomaala et al, 2018; Venesoja et al, 2020) and one in Australia (Kingswell et al, 2015). Most of the articles were in English, except for one in Spanish (Péculo‐Carrasco et al, 2013) and one in Swedish (Magnusson & Granskar, 2005).…”

“…Eight unequivocal and three credible findings supported this category. Patients remarked that the professionals' attitude was essential, and when their behaviour was calm, natural and friendly the perception of feeling safe improved (Ahl & Nyström, 2012; Lundqvist et al, 2021; Venesoja et al, 2020). Patients rated the level of knowledge of professionals from their point of view, feeling safer when they considered that they possessed enough scientific and technical skills (Ahl & Nyström, 2012;Péculo‐Carrasco et al, 2020; Venesoja et al, 2020).…”

“…The setting for the three remaining articles was the transfer of patients between hospitals (Kingswell et al, 2015;Lundqvist et al, 2021;Magnusson & Granskar, 2005).…”

“…'They were aware that it would be good, to make sure it felt good to us before they started driving so it felt very safe the whole time'. (Lundqvist et al, 2021).…”