Cutie: Infection Prevention for NICU Parents

Funded by the CDC, this project is centered on the development and implementation of a virtual reality (VR)-based application, codenamed “The Cutie.” This intervention will provide hands on practice of both soft- and hard skills related to infection control and prevention behaviors for parents of high-risk patients admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The game-based intervention has been designed to increase NICU parents’ knowledge about how infections are spread, the ways parents can prevent the transmission of germs through handwashing and other behaviors, and to serve as a playground for parents to practice the soft skills associated with communicating with frontline hospital staff about the importance of handwashing prior to patient interaction.