Effects of a quietness program in NICU on body movements, oxygenation, and respiratory rate in preterm infants

Prematurity is the main reason for NICU hospitalization. ‍Care of neonates in NICU must be qualified to decrease their stress. The present study aimed to determine and compare the mean of physiologic responses of preterm infants before and during a designed program to decrease stressful stimuli in the NICU.

In this single-group quasi-experimental study, 31 preterm infants hospitalized in the NICU of Al-Zahra Hospital in Isfahan, who had inclusion criteria, were selected by randomization method and enrolled after parents’ consent. The interventions included decreasing noise and light in the environment and neonatal handling for two consecutive days, each day for 2 hours. Their respiratory rate, SPO2, and frequency of body movements were measured before and during the intervention. Data were analyzed using paired t test in SPSS (version 16).

The mean percentage of SPO2 increased but the mean number of body movements decreased significantly compared with the time before the intervention and during the intervention (p<0.05). However, there was no significant change in respiratory rate (p=0.44).

The findings showed that creating periods of low light and noise stimulation in the NICU can greatly help to improve SPO2 and decrease body movements in preterm infants.