The impact of pandemic restrictive visiting policies on infant wellbeing in a NICU
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 5, 2025
Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Vito Giordano1, Renate Fuiko2, Andrea Witting2
1Division of Neonatology, Pediatric Intensive Care and Neuropediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Comprehensive Center for Paediatrics (CCP), Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. vito.giordano@meduniwien.ac.at.
Insights
The COVID-19 pandemic reduced simultaneous parental presence in NICUs but increased maternal-only and kangaroo care time, positively impacting infant wellbeing and pain scores.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- Pediatric health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Hospital policies during the SARS-COV-2 pandemic restricted parental presence in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs).
- The study investigated the impact of these restrictions on infant wellbeing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if the SARS-COV-2 pandemic altered parental presence in the NICU.
- To assess the effect of altered parental presence on infant wellbeing.
Main Methods:
- A retrospective cohort study analyzed parental presence (visits, kangaroo care) and infant wellbeing (Neonatal Pain Agitation and Sedation Scale, nurse documentation).
- Data were collected during the pandemic lockdown periods.
Main Results:
- Simultaneous parental presence decreased, while maternal-only presence and kangaroo care time increased during the pandemic.
- Infant wellbeing improved, indicated by lower Neonatal Pain Agitation and Sedation Scale scores during lockdown.
Conclusions:
- Parental presence is crucial for infant wellbeing in the NICU, even during a pandemic.
- Findings support a family-centered approach to neonatal care.
Background:
Given the countrywide lockdown in the first pandemic period and the respective Hospital restrictive policies, we aimed to investigate if the SARS-COV-2 pandemic was associated to a reduced parental presence in the NICU and in which form this had an impact on infant wellbeing.
Methods:
Retrospective cohort study about altered NICUs parental presence (measured by number of visits and kangaroo care time) due to pandemic restrictive policies and its impact on infant wellbeing (measured through The Neonatal Pain Agitation and Sedation scale and nurses' descriptive documentation).
Results:
Presence of both parents at the same time was significantly lower during pandemic. Contrary, maternal presence only and total kangaroo-care time were higher within the pandemic (163.36 ± 94.07 vs 122.71 ± 64.03; p = 0.000). Lower NPASS values were documented during the lookdown (1.28 ± 1.7 vs 1.78 ± 2.2; p = 0.000).
Conclusion:
Data collected through the pandemic confirm the importance of parental presence for infants' wellbeing in a NICU setting.
Impact:
Parental support is an extremely important aspect for infants hospitalized in an intensive care unit. Their presence was limited in many NICUs worldwide during the SARS-COV-2 pandemic. This study confirm the importance of parental presence for infants' wellbeing also in a pandemic situation. Our results support a family-centered newborn individualized developmental care approach in the NICU.
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