Preventing Hypothermia in Preterm Neonates using polyethylene plastic bag Wrap: A Review
Hikmi Muharromah Pratiwi, Desiyani Nani

Nursing Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman

Abstract

Background: Inadequancy of current practices of routine thermal care for heat lost prevention in preterm infant leads an additional need for a immediate hypothermia prevention following delivery and during NICU admission. Plastic bag wrapping has been proven effectively to prevent the hypothermia in preterm infants.
Aim: A review aimed to investigate the effectiveness of plastic bag wrapping toward hypothermia prevention in preterm infants after birth and during NICU admission.
Methods: A review was performed by searching of RCT trials using PubMed, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, and CINAHL and published in English between January 2013 and August 2023 related to plastic bag or plastic wrap or Vinyl bag or polyethylene bag or polyethylene covering, core temperature, and hypothermia. Quasi-experimental studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are included in this study
Result: This study included 10 trials involving 1704 preterm infants: 5 trial reported on poststabilization temperature and incidence of hypothermia, 5 trials showed only poststabilization temperature for the outcome. Eight studies revealed that plastic bag wrapping was associated with a declined hypothermia insidences, the higher temperature on baseline and poststabilization temperature compared with routine care or other thermal care. However, two studies reported that there is no difference between intervention group and control group in preterm infant baseline and poststabilization temperature after plastic bag wrapping.
Discussion: Ten trials had low to moderate risk of bias and only one study was unclear. Plastic bag wrapping could effectively prevent hypothermia in preterm infants less than 34 weeks of gestational age for one hour immediately after birth and during NICU admission. The majority of studies performed a follow up in in one to two hour after plastic bag wrapping. Mild adverse effects are reported in several studies, but they resolve immediately after plastic bag removing.
Conclusion: Plastic bag is considered as an effective and safe additional intervention for preventing hypothermia in preterm infants less than 34 weeks of gestational age. However, for further study could be ensured by performing better-designed studies and longer follow up period.

Keywords: Please Just Try to Submit This Sample hypothermia prevention, perinatal care, plastic wrap, premature infant, thermoregulationAbstract

Topic: Nursing care