Occupational therapy in the neonatal intensive care unit

Abstract

Over the past 30 years there has been a great deal of research into the problems of occupational therapy neonatal intensive care units ( NICU). Occupational therapy in the NICU is one of first steps in the habilitation of newborns and preterm newborns. In this paper many aspects of occupational therapy are discussed in the intensive care process of newborns. Occupational therapists in the NICU must be specially educated and need knowledge about all the areas connected with the NICU, technical knowledge about instruments, procedures, and the influence of the environment on newborn. They also facilitate the sensory and psychoneuromotorical development of newborns in the NICU through a large number of procedures e.g. «baby handling», early stimulation, massage. Occupational therapists in the NICU also can give support to the family of a newborn with serious neurological problems through education in care, handling, feeding and sensory stimulation.