title: [Individual developmental care based on the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP)].
abstract: The number of preterm deliveries is increasing. Major advances in neonatology now enable even infants with a very low gestational age to survive. These infants have to spend months in the intensive care unit, while they have to deal with a lot of painful medical procedures, nursing care units, excessive noise and light, all differing from the normal uterine environment. The immature preterm infant nervous system is in a vulnerable phase of development. Early exposure to stress, or the mismatch of the preterm infant brain with the unphysiologic intensive care environment, may be linked to long-term developmental impairments reported in these children. The Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) is a systematic method of assessing the individual needs of preterm newborns. In an attempt to mimic uterine environment, care according to the NIDCAP principles is reducing infant distress and in the same way supporting the individual aibilities. Thus NIDCAP may have an effect on the preterm infant neurodevelopmental outcome.
authors.affiliation: Neonatologie, Univ-Kinderklinik Heidelberg.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Huppertz
authors.forename: Bahman
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gharavi
authors.forename: Claus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schott
authors.forename: Otwin
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Linderkamp
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007224:Infant Care; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000451:nursing* / Q000517:prevention & control; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal