Neonatal Nurses' and Therapists' Perceptions of Positioning for Preterm Infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Purpose: Determine perceptions about positioning for preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Design: Twenty-item survey. Sample: Neonatal nurses (n = 68) and speech, physical, and occupational therapists (n = 8). Main outcome variable: Perceptions about positioning were obtained, and differences in perceptions between nurses and therapists were explored. Results: Ninety-nine percent of respondents agreed that positioning is important for the well-being of the infant. Sixty-two percent of nurses and 86 percent of therapists identified the Dandle ROO as the ideal method of neonatal positioning. Forty-four percent of nurses and 57 percent of therapists reported that the Dandle ROO is the easiest positioning method to use in the NICU. Some perceptions differed: Therapists were more likely to report that the SleepSack does not hold the infant in good alignment. Nurses were more likely to report that the infant does not sleep well in traditional positioning.