Kayleigh Stromgren
October 2013
Kayleigh
Stromgren
,
RN
NICU
University of Washington Medical Center
Seattle
,
WA
United States
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) has for the past ten months been adapting to single room care. Families, nurses, physicians and other members of the interdisciplinary team are working together to facilitate excellent care. Family-centered care is an important part of providing competent care in the NICU.
While a senior nursing student, Kayleigh Stromgren was an investigator in a research project evaluating parental stress in the NICU. Within her role as investigator, she made biweekly bedside rounds and approached eligible parents, using an approved script, to elicit possible interest in the study. The results were shared with the Local Practice Council, at staff meetings and the Seattle Research Consortium. The study found that parents showed stress in the NICU by increased anxiety, depression, fatigue and sleep disruption. It also found that it is difficult to participate in parenting activities when in the critical care setting. Before she even began her NICU nursing career, Kayleigh was creating new knowledge.
Kayleigh has been instrumental in teaching the staff to identify parents who are experiencing heightened stress responses and to assist with referrals for anxiety and depression. She has encouraged parents to have a visitation schedule that promotes attachment, but ensures adequate sleep patterns. Kayleigh demonstrates consistently competent care when interacting with parents by being calm and reassuring them with clear explanations that are appropriate to their comprehensive levels. Being a role model for the interdisciplinary team fosters open communication to achieve the optimum: decreasing parents' stress, anxiety, and depression thereby improving the infants' outcome.
Kayleigh has been a staff nurse for the past two years. She strives for excellence in her bedside care and is very professional. Families and the interdisciplinary team appreciate her insight and caring attitude. She displays a high degree of honestly, loyalty and integrity. The study noted above, was recently published in Critical Care Nurse. The research results will now be available for other NICUs to evaluate appropriate evidence-based assessment and interventions to decrease stress, depression and anxiety for parents. Kayleigh is one of our rising stars and such an asset to the NICU.
While a senior nursing student, Kayleigh Stromgren was an investigator in a research project evaluating parental stress in the NICU. Within her role as investigator, she made biweekly bedside rounds and approached eligible parents, using an approved script, to elicit possible interest in the study. The results were shared with the Local Practice Council, at staff meetings and the Seattle Research Consortium. The study found that parents showed stress in the NICU by increased anxiety, depression, fatigue and sleep disruption. It also found that it is difficult to participate in parenting activities when in the critical care setting. Before she even began her NICU nursing career, Kayleigh was creating new knowledge.
Kayleigh has been instrumental in teaching the staff to identify parents who are experiencing heightened stress responses and to assist with referrals for anxiety and depression. She has encouraged parents to have a visitation schedule that promotes attachment, but ensures adequate sleep patterns. Kayleigh demonstrates consistently competent care when interacting with parents by being calm and reassuring them with clear explanations that are appropriate to their comprehensive levels. Being a role model for the interdisciplinary team fosters open communication to achieve the optimum: decreasing parents' stress, anxiety, and depression thereby improving the infants' outcome.
Kayleigh has been a staff nurse for the past two years. She strives for excellence in her bedside care and is very professional. Families and the interdisciplinary team appreciate her insight and caring attitude. She displays a high degree of honestly, loyalty and integrity. The study noted above, was recently published in Critical Care Nurse. The research results will now be available for other NICUs to evaluate appropriate evidence-based assessment and interventions to decrease stress, depression and anxiety for parents. Kayleigh is one of our rising stars and such an asset to the NICU.