Evaluating a Practice Change Initiative to Promote Early Skin-to-Skin Contact After Cesarean Birth

Research conducted since the 1980s has elucidated many benefits of skin-to-skin contact between mothers and their newborns. Despite evidence of these benefits, skin-to-skin contact after operative birth remains a challenge for many labor and delivery units and direct-care nurses. To promote evidence-based practice, a quality improvement project was designed to promote the clinical application of early skin-to-skin contact after Cesarean birth in a small, suburban, Magnet-designated hospital. Data were collected prior to and following the implementation of the practice change to recover newborns and mothers together in the postanesthesia care unit. Results: The incorporation of skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth was improved when a practice change was implemented to promote mother-newborn proximity during the first hour of life. The chi-square comparison was significant, χ2 (1, N = 127) = 6.53, p = .01. In addition, the postintervention group had significantly more successful breastfeeding initiation than did the preintervention group, χ2 (1, N = 130) = 5.63, p = .02