Device Performance and Parental Perception of the Skincubator 2.0, a Wearable Device to Support Prolonged
Itamar Nitzan1,2, Raylene Phillips3,4, Iris Morag1,5
1Department of Neonatology, Shamir Medical Center, Zrifin, Israel.
Insights
The Skincubator device enhances safety and convenience for parents performing skin-to-skin care (SSC) with preterm neonates. Parents reported higher satisfaction with Skincubator SSC compared to traditional methods, potentially enabling longer bonding periods.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- Developmental pediatrics
- Medical device innovation
Background:
- Early and prolonged skin-to-skin care (SSC) is crucial for preterm neonates, reducing morbidity and mortality.
- Barriers such as safety concerns and parental challenges often limit prolonged SSC for extreme preterm infants.
- The Skincubator was developed to facilitate prolonged SSC by addressing these barriers, maintaining warmth, humidity, and infant safety with lines and tubes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the performance of the Skincubator's retractable transfer pad.
- To assess parental satisfaction with the Skincubator compared to traditional skin-to-skin care (t-SSC).
Main Methods:
- An observational study was conducted during the Skincubator feasibility phase.
- Transfer success rates using the retractable pad and Skincubator humidity levels were recorded.
- Parents completed Likert scale questionnaires rating satisfaction with Skincubator SSC versus t-SSC safety and convenience.
Main Results:
- The study involved 18 parents caring for 12 babies over 53 sessions, with some infants requiring ventilation.
- The Skincubator maintained a humidity of 71±11%, and the retractable pad transfer was successful in 103 out of 106 attempts.
- Parents reported significantly higher satisfaction with the safety (p=0.001) and convenience (p=0.02) of Skincubator SSC compared to t-SSC.
Conclusions:
- The Skincubator facilitates safe and convenient transfers for skin-to-skin care within a controlled, warm, and humidified environment.
- Parental satisfaction with Skincubator SSC was superior to traditional SSC in terms of both safety and convenience.
- The Skincubator shows promise in supporting parents to engage in longer durations of skin-to-skin care with their preterm infants.
Abstract:
Early and prolonged skin-to-skin care (SSC) reduces morbidity and mortality in preterm neonates more than intermittent SSC. Extreme preterm neonates generally do not receive early prolonged SSC for several reasons, including safety concerns and parental challenges. To facilitate prolonged SSC in this population, we invented the Skincubator, a device to overcome SSC barriers. The Skincubator enables SSC, while safely securing the baby, lines, and tubes and maintaining warmth and humidity. A retractable Transfer Pad enables transfers to and from the caregiver with minimal handling, while keeping baby is safely positioned. Once on the parent, the pad is retracted to allow full SSC. The objective of this study is to assess the Transfer Pad performance and parent satisfaction from the Skincubator.An observational study performed during the learning phase of the Skincubator feasibility study. Success rates of transfer with the retractable pad and humidity within the Skincubator were recorded. Parents were provided with questionnaires to rate (on a Likert scale of 1-5) satisfaction with the safety and convenience of the Skincubator and traditional SSC (t-SSC).Twelve babies were treated in the Skincubator by 18 parents (10 mothers, 8 fathers) for 53 sessions. Two babies were invasively ventilated during Skincubator care. Average Skincubator session time was 146 ± 52 minutes. Humidity within the Skincubator was 71 ± 11%. The retractable pad transfer succeeded in 103 of 106 attempts. Parents were very satisfied with the Skincubator SSC safety and satisfied/neutral with the safety of t-SSC (p = 0.001, Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Parents were satisfied with the Skincubator SSC convenience and neutral with the convenience of t-SSC (p = 0.02).The Skincubator allows transfer to and from SSC within a warm, humidified environment. Parents were more satisfied with the safety and convenience of Skincubator SSC as compared with t-SSC. The Skincubator may support parents in performing longer hours of SSC. · Early prolonged SSC improves preterm infants' outcome but may be challenging.. · To mitigate several SSC barriers, we invented the Skincubator in a wearable incubator for prolonged SSC.. · The Skincubator allows transfer to and from SSC within a warm, humidified environment.. · Compared with t-SSC, parents were more satisfied with the Skincubator safety and convenience.. · The Skincubator may support parents in performing longer hours of SSC..
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