Investigating the Effects of Rooming-in Care in Icteric Hospitalized Neonates

Background: Rooming-in, motivated by World Health Organization (WHO) strategies and baby-friendly hospital policies, is a practice followed in many maternity hospitals of Iran. Mother-infant dyad may easily be damaged by the separation caused by medical and surgical problems, which result in hospital stay. Regarding this, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the rooming-in practice in icteric newborns admitted to Mofid Children's Hospital of Tehran, Iran. Methods: This study was conducted on 220 neonates admitted to Mofid Children's Hospital with the complaint of jaundice. Out of the 220 newborns, 124 cases were assigned into the intervention group (the rooming-in care) and 96 neonates were categorized into the control group (the routine-care). The two groups were compared in terms of the length of hospital stay, maternal satisfaction, nursing care time, and hospital stay complications. The data were collected by some trained mid-wives using a validated questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using paired sample t-test through SPSS version 16. Results: According to the results of the study, about 55% of the neonates were male. The neonatal mean ages of the intervention and control groups were 6.6 ±3.7 and 7 ± 3.8 days, respectively. Maternal satisfaction with neonatal care and maternal comfort during hospital stay were significantly higher in the intervention group (P=0.027). Furthermore, the two groups had no significant difference regarding the complications of hospital stay (P=0.655). Conclusion: As the findings of the present study demonstrated, in spite of the similarities of the health issues, nursery essentials, and hospital stay complications between the two groups, the rooming-in was more favorable according to the mothers’ viewpoints.