Implementation of kangaroo care: a parent-health care team approach to practice change

This article discusses how the neonatal intensive care unit at Children's Health Care St. Paul became the first in the nation to successfully implement kangaroo care in a nonresearch based environment. The systematic process included the use of research materials indicating positive outcomes, recruitment of primary nurses, and staff educational sessions that encouraged problem solving for potential adverse effects. The process provided an opportunity to examine critically and to prove the unit's family-centered philosophy.