In rural Arkansas, women’s health nurses at the state’s only academic medical center have launched and led a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit web camera (NICU webcam) project to transform how separated parents bond with their baby.  Those neonates born prematurely, at a low birth weight, or with congenital problems often experience long hospital stays after birth, leaving their families separated from their infants for many months at a time.  While the baby remains in the hospital, the mother and family must carry on life as usual, constantly wondering about the well being of their hospitalized baby.  With this separation, maternal bonding is severed, family communication is difficult, and feelings of sadness and anxiety are heightened.   These separated infants often suffer delayed developmental milestones, which are often fueled by hearing the sounds and seeing the images of their mothers and other family members.  In essence, everyone suffers when a baby must be hospitalized.             

Obstetrical and neonatal nurses at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences sought to eradicate these challenges of family separation from hospitalized babies through an NICU-webcam pilot project. This innovation program is the only in the world delivering real-time video of hospitalized infants directly to their remote family, often miles away in their homes.  A one-way, real-time video feed from the neonate’s bedside is transmitted to a website only accessible to family and selected NICU provider and nursing staff. Mothers and other family members log-in to this security-encrypted website where they can view live video of their NICU hospitalized infant, creating a family-centered monitoring device.            

Because of the rarity of this innovative program, little is known about its affects. The only pilot study describing web camera remote access viewing of the neonate was conducted by this project’s creators. The qualitative study employed a descriptive phenomenological approach to collect data among four mothers regarding their experiences viewing their neonate through real-time video technology during their neonate’s hospitalization.  These women were interviewed by a doctorate-level nurse practitioner for 1-2 hours and received a brief, follow-up phone call, and audio-taped interviews were transcribed and assessed. Results revealed 100% of participants expressed viewing their infant twice daily aided in bonding and relieving anxiety, thus enhancing maternal-infant connection while eliminating the distance barrier.  Study participants enjoyed and reassured themselves while viewing their baby before bedtime. Moreover, family members from across the nation would view the baby simultaneously, and call each other during and after the viewing to discuss their experiences, a process that further deepens the bonding experience. These findings conclude real-time, video feed technology can impact maternal bonding and anxiety among distant mothers. 

A nurse-driven NICU-webcam program has the potential to increase quality of life for not only participating families but also the hospitalized infant by relieving anxiety and cultivating a distant bonding experience.  With the possibility of impacting maternal bonding, ease in infant reentry into the home, paternal and sibling attachment, lactation, anxiety, and depression, this innovative program holds promise to significantly impact mothers and their families.