Type of Submission
Poster
Keywords
Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, Rooming-in, Maternal Presence, Maternal Absence
Proposal
Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) is a disorder resulting from persistent opioid exposure while a fetus is developing in-utero and then the sudden halting of that exposure at birth. This process affects the digestive system, nervous system, and muscles. Historically, it results in the separation of mother and baby at birth as the infant often must be transferred to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for treatment. This has been shown to cause a direct increase in the length of stay and severity of symptoms due to the interruption of mother-infant bonding. This study sought to identify the role maternal presence plays in NAS cases and how the support of nurses in the dyad remaining together impacts the neonates’ symptoms of NAS. We conducted an integrative review for NAS treatment using full-text articles from PubMed. Our inclusion criteria included relevance to NAS and rooming-in practices; conduction within the past ten years; and conclusive results that emphasized non-pharmacological interventions. Exclusion criteria maintained that articles could not be published outside of ten years or include multiple variables outside our research question. We found that NAS should be treated using rooming in, breastfeeding, and other non-pharmacological methods. Evidence supports decreasing barriers to breastfeeding for mothers with opioid use disorder (OUD) and neonates with NAS. Further, nursing care should be centered on providing support for rooming-in and maximizing the use of non-pharmacological interventions. The conduction of randomized controlled trials (RCT) is needed for the further development of data. Follow-up studies examining the long-term success rates of infants with NAS and rooming-in six to twelve months after are also warranted.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Publication Date
2024
A Mother's Touch: The Fight Against Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome
Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) is a disorder resulting from persistent opioid exposure while a fetus is developing in-utero and then the sudden halting of that exposure at birth. This process affects the digestive system, nervous system, and muscles. Historically, it results in the separation of mother and baby at birth as the infant often must be transferred to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for treatment. This has been shown to cause a direct increase in the length of stay and severity of symptoms due to the interruption of mother-infant bonding. This study sought to identify the role maternal presence plays in NAS cases and how the support of nurses in the dyad remaining together impacts the neonates’ symptoms of NAS. We conducted an integrative review for NAS treatment using full-text articles from PubMed. Our inclusion criteria included relevance to NAS and rooming-in practices; conduction within the past ten years; and conclusive results that emphasized non-pharmacological interventions. Exclusion criteria maintained that articles could not be published outside of ten years or include multiple variables outside our research question. We found that NAS should be treated using rooming in, breastfeeding, and other non-pharmacological methods. Evidence supports decreasing barriers to breastfeeding for mothers with opioid use disorder (OUD) and neonates with NAS. Further, nursing care should be centered on providing support for rooming-in and maximizing the use of non-pharmacological interventions. The conduction of randomized controlled trials (RCT) is needed for the further development of data. Follow-up studies examining the long-term success rates of infants with NAS and rooming-in six to twelve months after are also warranted.
