Can parent care help improve survival rate of preterm babies?

Two Faculty of Nursing researchers were part of the new funding announcement from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) made on May 12. A total of $6.45 million will advance knowledge around preterm births and improve the health outcomes for premature babies, something both Karen Benzies and Shahirose Premji have been working toward throughout their careers.

Normally, babies are born at 40 weeks gestation; preterm babies are born at less than 37 weeks gestation and require care in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

As principal investigator, Benzies will further her exploration of ways to integrate parents into the care of their preterm newborns, decreasing distress and costs to both the parents and to the health system. Benzies is a leading nurse researcher focused on early childhood and parent relationships with particular emphasis on children at risk for development delays. She is also an adjunct research professor with the Department of Paediatrics and a member of the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute's Health Outcomes group.

“In collaboration with AHS’s Maternal Newborn Child and Youth, Strategic Clinical Network, we are evaluating outcomes and costs of a new model of care for babies born between four and eight weeks early,” explains Benzies. Her Family Integrated Care (FICare) program provides concrete strategies to involve parents in care of the baby starting at admission to NICU.

“CIHR funding will determine if FICare can make a difference at 18 months, the standard age for assessing outcomes in children born preterm,” she adds. “If FICare improves outcomes for preterm babies and their parents at 18 months, we will have sufficient justification to recommend implementation in NICUs that provide care for babies born four to eight weeks early.” 

Associate professor Shahirose Premji investigates psychosocial, cultural and environment factors to develop interventions to prevent preterm births. She is also an adjunct associate professor with the Department of Community Health Sciences. Premji is co-investigator on a national project — the Pan-Canadian Preterm  Network — to bring together researchers, doctors, nurses and families to improve the delivery of care for babies born more than eight weeks early. Over the next five years, this network hopes to increase the rate of preterm infant survival without complications by 30 per cent. Premji will represent nursing on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Pan-Canadian Preterm Network. 

An estimated 390,000 babies are born each year in Canada. Of these, nearly eight per cent are born prematurely.