About NIDCAP
The Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) developed by Dr. Heidelise Als of Harvard Medical School, is an innovative approach to care of infants in intensive and special care nurseries. While medical support for infants born prematurely has become increasingly successful in saving their lives, these infants remain at high risk for significant developmental issues that can impact their quality of life physically, socially, and later on in their school performance.
While the focus of care in the hospital is to provide necessary technology to support life, NIDCAP's interdisciplinary approach recognizes that the infant is in a critical period of brain growth and development, and that medical care regimen should be adjusted to ensure support to the developing brain.
The conceptual basis for NIDCAP suggests that by observing and then interpreting behaviors of infants within their environment and as reactions to care they receive, developmental care plans can be developed with the caregiving team, that best support's the infant's overall goals and efforts to self-console. This information can then be used by hospital staff and families to judge when and how to support the infant through procedures and care, in order for the infant to stay as relaxed and comfortable as possible.
This "earliest intervention" supports the infant in their development by encouraging the infant's own abilities to cope with the hospitalization, in addition to help the parents learn their infant's unique behavioral responses. The NIDCAP philosophy is grounded in family-centered care, acknowledging that this is the beginning of a lifelong relationship between infant and parents, and that the parent's involvement in care at this point will not only help the infant stay calm and relaxed during medical procedures but will also help facilitate a strong attachment between them.
