Table 2.
“Taking part in baby care”: description of contents by FICare implementation level (basic and advanced), the expected and observed training time, and the number of families certified by task.
| Task | Level | ETT(days) | OTT (median/IQR) | n |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hand hygiene: Hand washing rules before and after interacting with their baby or his/her environment. | B+A | 2 | 3 (2–4) | 70 |
| Physiology and monitors: Parents are trained on the general physiology principles, alarm limits, and running of the medical devices essential for baby care, i.e. incubators, thermometers, scales, or electrodes. | B+A | 10 | 9 (6–12) | 63 |
| Intravenous lines: To identify the types of lines and the type of infusions used for intravenous administration of nutrition, medication, or blood derivatives. Parents understand the general running of programming flux devices and will be able to report the nursing team any unexpected event. | B+A | 3 | 3 (3–4) | 16 |
| Bathing: Parents take the responsibility of baby grooming without disrupting their connection with sensors and devices. | B+A | 4 | 3 (2–6) | 67 |
| Breastfeeding: Mothers are advised and supported on how to improve their own nutritional needs during breastfeeding, breastfeeding techniques and baby positioning, how to foster milk production, manual and pump milk extraction techniques, and mastitis prevention. | B+A | 7 | 6 (4–9) | 51 |
| Other types of feeding: Parents collaborate in baby nutrition, register feeding times and volumes, double check the milk to be administered, and applying oral sensory stimulation techniques to optimize their baby's sucking and swallowing reflexes. | B+A | 5 | 7 (5–11) | 60 |
| Skin-to-skin & kangaroo method: Skin-to-skin contact or kangaroo care is provided in almost any condition; parents help the nurse or do themselves the baby's transfer from cot/incubator to mother's/father's chest. | B+A | 5 | 4 (3–8.7) | 52 |
| Dressing & diaper changing: Can represent a stressful event in the unstable baby. Parents receive guidelines to do these tasks in a safe manner to ensure the baby's comfort. | B+A | 2 | 3 (2–5.2) | 66 |
| Oral medication: Parents know about the medications prescribed and the indication, the dosage, and the administration route. They only administer oral medications always overseen by the nursing team. | B+A | 2 | 3 (1–4) | 41 |
| Temperature: Parents daily measure their baby's armpit temperature and report any unexpected value. | B+A | 5 | 3 (2–5) | 28 |
| Mouth and skin care: Parents follow strict guidelines to ensure mouth and skin care in the tiny body of their babies focusing on monitoring devices connected to their skin by adhesive patches. | B+A | 2 | 3 (2.2–5) | 56 |
| Interaction: This section focuses on developmental care: measures to avoid stress and promote infant's neurological and emotional development. | B+A | 10 | 6 (4–9.7) | 56 |
| Positioning: Parents are trained to promote normal muscle development and movement patterns according to the baby's medical conditions. | B+A | 14 | 8.5 (6–11) | 56 |
| Neurobehaviour, stress, and pain: Parents understand the different neurobehavioral statuses of their baby to guide interactions with him/her in a confident manner. Parents are able to identify signs of stress/pain and learn how to mitigate them (non-pharmacologic analgesia, such as noise and light control, non-nutritive sucking, contention, positioning, etc.). | B+A | 14 | 7 (4.2–10) | 56 |
| Non-invasive respiratory support: Parents will learn to identify common breathing patterns and apnea events. Also, they are involved in supervising general items in non-invasive respiratory support, notions on supplementary oxygen and adjustments, and placement of ventilator interphase or nasal cannula. Parents understand relevant alarm events. | A | 7 | 7 (4–10) | 35 |
| Naso/orogastric tube: Parents collaborate with the nursing team in tube positioning. Also, parents double check the milk to be administered and register feeding times as appropriate. | A | 3 | 5 (2–7) | 27 |
| Urinary catheter care: Parents collaborate with the nursing team in urinary catheter placement and maintenance. | A | 14 | 3 (2–3.7) | 12 |
| Ostomy care: Parents take care of their baby's stoma with a special focus on skin protection when changing the pouch. | A | 5 | 5 (3–7) | 4 |
| Daily balance: Parents evaluate and register body and diaper weight, total daily fluid intake, fontanelle and skin status, and vital signs. | A | 10 | 3 (2–4) | 47 |
| Invasive respiratory support: Parents support their infants while nurses are doing respiratory procedures such as the amount of supplementary oxygen and other basic principles, adjustment of ventilator connectors, or understanding relevant alarm events. | A | 14 | 3 (2.5–5) | 9 |
ETT, expected training time; OTT, observed training time; B, basic; A, advanced.