Positive Touch Programme©
These courses are specifically promoted for health professionals working on a Neonatal Unit
UK COURSE DATES 2011
This course is for staff of all disciplines who are interested
in enhancing the experience of babies and their families needing
Neonatal Intensive/specialised Care (NICU). Neonatal staff would
benefit from attending with others from their unit so that they have
support and authorisation to implement the proposed Positive Touch
Programme©.
Ideally I take no more than 20 participants. This will enable friendly,
personal and interactive communications between course leader and
all attendees.
Many NICU staff report that it is difficult to implement a formal
Touch programme in their busy neonatal units. Problems seem
to be getting started, with resistance from senior medical and
nursing staff being a common problem. This predicament seems to
be primarily due to the informal way touch is initially presented
by many well-meaning staff. Infant Massage is often attempted but
has been found to be too stimulating for most NICU infants. Staff
need an effective, but safe way to help the families to have a
closer connection with their infant at a time when the baby may
have major medical problems.
The course covers all the key topics to enable the delegates to create
a formal Positive Touch proposal and implement A Positive Touch
Programme© into their unit:
- Presentation & discussion on the importance of the skin and
appropriate sensory input.
- The neurobiology of stress, pain and comfort. This includes discussion
on the chemistry of parent-infant attachment.
- The nursery environment is considered. The delegates use checklists
to help identify the strengths, challenges and potential for change
in their NICU work.
- Infant behavioural cues are presented, with special attention
to NICU challenges.
The infant’s developmental pathway is discussed.
- Family psychology in the NICU is considered.
- Key strategies for transforming ‘routine’ care with
a Positive Touch approach are presented, such as bathing, feeding,
changing/positioning/handling weighing, etc.
- The process of making long-lasting changes in the NICU and steps
for creating Positive Touch guidelines are presented.
This is an opportunity for you to gain knowledge and skills that
will help you to give high quality holistic care to babies and
their families. The Positive Touch Programme uses an approach endorsed
by the International Association of Infant Massage and is designed
to be integrated into an Individualised, Family Centred Developmental
Care Programme (NIDCAP).
- To establish an appreciation and promote the implementation of
a programme that addresses the emotional and physical dilemmas
between a parent and their infant in the NICU, at this critical
time of separation.
- To provide a means to promote a sense of balance for the NICU
neonate: positive, developmentally appropriate, versus negative,
developmentally inappropriate, sensory experiences.
- To increase the ability to help calm an infant in times of stress
and offer non-pharmacological alternatives for dealing with pain
and distress.
- To empower parents with babies in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
(NICU) by giving them a means of understanding their babies’ cues
and therefore tune in with their early communication skills more
effectively.
- To increase parental confidence by using the Positive Touch approach.
- To enhance the neonatal staff role in offering humane care for
their families, giving them an opportunity to show their acceptance
of the parents’ contribution as an essential part of the
infant’s long term development.
On completion of the Positive Touch Foundation Course, you
will be able to:
- Promote a Positive Touch Programme© in your NICU
- Create a protocol, which is adapted to your particular neonatal
unit.
- Have the knowledge to guide and support other staff of all disciplines
to implement a positive touch dialogue throughout their practice.
- Have the confidence to be creative in adapting daily care in
ways that are sensitive to the needs of individual infants and
their families.
- Initiate a reflective audit/benchmark on your developing practice
- Participants should have some knowledge of the Newborn Individualized
Developmental Care and Assessment Programme (NIDCAP):
*Recommended reading: Westup B, Kleberg
A, Stejernqvist K. The newborn Individualized Developmental Care
and Assessment programme (NIDCAP). In: Sizun J,
Browne JV, ed. Research on Early Developmental Care for Preterm
Neonates. Paris & UK: John Libby Eurotext, 2005:75-83.
- Bring a doll that reflects the size of the babies you are working
with. Dimensions should be approximately of a 2kg infant with a
cloth body that extends to below the knees, has open eyes and preferably
open hands. Premature dolls can be ordered from the UK: See ‘demonstration
doll’ on left menu bar.
- Bring a thin sheet/blanket for the doll
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