The Resilient NICU
Manage
Unsave
This will also remove this resource from any lists you have added it to.
Overview
In this course, some of the basic concepts of trauma and resilience informed care will be examined, with a focus on how to improve the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) experience for families and, in turn, improve infant health outcomes. Several situations that may be encountered in the NICU are explored and ways to help alleviate the impact of trauma for families, providers, and the people with whom we work are reviewed.
Learn more about the professional credits offered here
Learning objectives
- Describe strategies that support trauma- and resilience-informed care
- Describe at least one effective communication technique you can use while communicating with your healthcare team
- List ways that strengthening family engagement can improve infant outcomes
- Explain strategies and coping skills to alleviate the impact of trauma for healthcare professionals and teams
Professional credit
- This activity offers the following types of credit: APA, ABP-MOC, ABIM-MOC, ANCC, ASWB, ACCME
- 1.0 CEs are available.
- Additional details can be found in the activity document for this resource.
Related items
Parent/Caregiver Resources for Transition to Parenthood and Special Needs Parenting
This resource list on transitioning to parenthood and special needs parenting was compiled by the providers at the UCLA Family Development Program to support parents/caregivers of newborns and infants. While this is not a comprehensive list, these books, websites, and podcasts offer sound advice that aligns with expert guidance.
Grief and Loss Mental Health Services
This handout provides a directory of specialized mental health professionals and clinical services. These resources are dedicated to supporting individuals and families through the psychological complexities of reproductive loss and trauma.
Pregnancy and Infant/Child Loss Retreats
This handout provides a detailed directory of retreat programs for individuals and families who have experienced the death of a child. These retreats offer dedicated time away from daily life to focus on healing, connection, and remembrance.
Funeral, Burial, and Cremation Services
This handout provides a practical and compassionate guide for families planning a funeral for a baby. It offers emotional guidance alongside a directory of specialized services and financial assistance programs.
Bereavement Support Groups and Resources
This handout serves as a comprehensive guide for families navigating the loss of a child. It offers a list of emotional, financial, and educational resources.
Strategies for Preventing and Addressing Birth Trauma
This presentation from the UCLA Family Development Program is designed for professionals to use when presenting on the complexities of birth-related psychological distress. It equips providers with the knowledge and tools to recognize risk factors for birth trauma, identify signs and symptoms of postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and support parents struggling in the aftermath of a traumatic birth. For an example on how to use these slides, please refer to the Addressing Birth Trauma video.
Self-Care Tips for NICU Families
This handout provides practical strategies and emotional encouragement for families navigating the challenges of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
NICU Parenting: Coping With Comparisons
This handout outlines several key strategies to help NICU parents cope with comparisons.
Returning to Work With a Baby in the NICU
This handout addresses the challenges of returning to work while a baby is in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and offers strategies for coping with complex emotions and practical needs. It emphasizes self-care, maintaining a connection with the baby, and navigating work-related issues.
Recognizing Postpartum PTSD
Having a baby can sometimes lead to unexpected emotional challenges. This handout helps explain the signs of postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and how you can help the birthing parent and/or partner.
Recognizing Postpartum Anxiety
This handout helps you recognize the signs of postpartum anxiety. It explains what it is, what the signs are, and how common it is.
Recognizing Birth Trauma
This handout explains that giving birth can be tough not just physically, but emotionally, too. While in some, but not all, cases, birth trauma can lead to the development of postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Providing Support for Postpartum Anxiety
Postpartum anxiety is intense worrying after the birth of a child that interferes with daily life. It is a common and treatable condition. Here are some tips for providing empathic, effective support.
Being Responsive to Birth Trauma
Medical providers are in a unique position to reduce the risk for trauma during pregnancy, birth, and postnatal care. This handout will provide some things to consider when interacting with birthing patients.
Sharing Your NICU Story
Sometimes, people want to know about your baby's time in the NICU. It's okay to share, but it's also okay to keep things private. This guide can help you decide how you want to share your story.
Parent/Caregiver Resources for General Child Development
This resource list on general child development was compiled by the providers at the UCLA Family Development Program to support parents/caregivers of newborns and infants. While this is not a comprehensive list, these books, websites, and podcasts offer sound advice that aligns with expert guidance.
Growing Foundational Skills in Early Childhood
This course is focused on supporting resilience and wellbeing in young children, specifically children with histories of trauma. This online training is designed to provide an introduction to understanding how early childhood trauma may impact young children's relationships, behaviors, emotions, and thinking processes. In each module, participants will join four early childhood professionals as they learn and apply trauma informed skills to build strong relationships with young children and promote their readiness to learn. Participants will be able to apply these same trauma informed skills ...
Parent/Caregiver Resources for Social-Emotional Development/Behavior Management
This resource list on social-emotional/behavior management was compiled by the providers at the UCLA Family Development Program to support parents/caregivers of newborns and infants. While this is not a comprehensive list, these books, websites, and podcasts offer sound advice that aligns with expert guidance.
NICU Resources for Feeding and Sleep
We live in a time of unprecedented access to information. We can ask almost any question and find an answer. When it comes to parenting, it can be overwhelming and confusing to sort through seemingly opposing information. This is especially true for parents navigating their child's medical challenges.
10 Questions to Ask When Navigating the NICU
Open communication with your healthcare team is essential. Don't hesitate to seek clarification whenever you have concerns or need more information. The NICU staff is there to provide care and support for both you and your baby.
Feeding Newborns: Inclusive Strategies to Build Empathy and Equity With Families
Feeding is a caregiving act that can bring up a wide range of emotions, including joy, contentment, guilt, worry, and frustration. Providers and clinical staff can help families practice self-compassion throughout their feeding journey by understanding the history and contexts that inform how families approach infant feeding.
Addressing Birth Trauma
Traumatic birth can significantly affect the wellbeing of parents and babies, and healthcare providers play a critical role in preventing or mitigating birth trauma. This video emphasizes ways in which providers can recognize risk factors for birth trauma, identify signs and symptoms of postpartum PTSD, and support parents struggling in the aftermath of a traumatic birth. Download the Strategies for Preventing and Addressing Birth Trauma slides to share this presentation with your colleagues.
Cultivating Self-Awareness to Address Disparities in Healthcare Settings
Increasing self-awareness can help us better understand our own explicit and implicit biases. Subsequently, we can enhance our understanding of how these biases impact patient care and perpetuate inequitable systems.
When New Parents Have Trauma Histories: Recognizing and Responding With Sensitivity
Past experiences can shape the way caregivers approach the addition of a new baby. This handout gives insight into common trauma signs caregivers can experience, and tips on how to respond with compassion and support.
Supporting Culturally and Linguistically Diverse NICU Families
Neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) serve families from a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. This handout outlines multiple strategies to support linguistically diverse families in the NICU.
Culturally Sensitive Sleep Conversations
Caregivers and providers both want babies to thrive. Here are ways to set the stage for culturally sensitive sleep conversations, and how to find common ground for supportive and effective information sharing.
Microaggressions in the NICU Tip Sheet
Microaggressions may seem subtle and harmless, but they can profoundly impact the emotional wellbeing and trust of families in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). This handout educates about microaggressions, and provides microintervention strategies to help address microaggressions and enhance the quality of care for diverse communities in the NICU.
Understanding a Baby's Cry: How to Support Caregivers
Anyone who has spent time caring for a baby knows that they cry, but some babies may cry more than others. Although this can be a normal part of their development, it can become overwhelming for caregivers. Providers can use this tip sheet to help caregivers feel more informed and confident when caring for a frequently crying baby.
Stories From the Frontline: Nursing
Dr. Bill Nash is joined by Katherine Brown-Saltzman, MA, RN, a nursing ethicist who co-founded the UCLA Health Ethics Center and founded the Ethics of Caring Conference. Katherine also developed a writing retreat for healthcare professionals who experience moral distress. Dr. Nash uses the framework described in the Assess, Recover, Mitigate, and Strength (ARMS): A Wellbeing Regimen for Professionals course to conduct this interview.
The Development of Executive Functions in Early Childhood
Executive functioning is cognitive skills utilized for purposeful, future-oriented behavior, that underlie flexible adaptation to changing task demands, including regulation of attention, inhibition of inappropriate responses, and coordination of information in working memory. Identify how to support the development of these skills in young children. Recorded on: 2/20/2019
Music and Movement With Scarves
Explore a creative and engaging way to teach emotional regulation to children in order to promote their wellbeing. Use this handout to learn how to teach deep breathing techniques to children using music, movement, and scarves. This SEEDS handout is available in English-Español for double-sided printing.