Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
To survey the details of skin care practices in a sample of level I, II, and III nurseries in the United States.
DESIGN:
A survey conducted by written questionnaire, personal inspection, and phone contact.
PARTICIPANTS:
Information was obtained from staff physicians and nurses about routine neonatal skin care practices, including bathing, cord care, emollient use, diapering, use of antimicrobial skin preparations, management of intravenous infiltration, approach to diaper rash, and methods used to minimize transcutaneous water loss.
SETTING:
Fifteen nurseries from twelve hospitals in four states were surveyed.
RESULTS:
Among the nurseries surveyed, we found no uniform approach to skin care. Only two individual maneuvers were consistently performed in all the nurseries: criteria for bathing and skin antisepsis with povidone–iodine. Other than these, a wide range of practices and products were used, some with a high ratio of risk and/or cost to benefit.
CONCLUSION:
A better understanding of the principles of infant skin care and a more uniform approach to skin care in the neonatal nursery can minimize risks and costs to this special population of patients.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The majority of the work was done when P. Y. S. was a seniormedical student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Siegfried, E., Shah, P. Skin Care Practices in the Neonatal Nursery. J Perinatol 19, 31–39 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jp.7200110
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jp.7200110
This article is cited by
-
Development and Validation of the Intravenous Infiltration and Extravasation Risk Assessment Tool (IIERAT) for Pediatric Patients
Indian Pediatrics (2022)
-
Comparison of Olive Oil and Dry-Clean Keeping Methods in Umbilical Cord Care as Microbiological
Maternal and Child Health Journal (2010)