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Partners in growth: implementing family-centered changes in the neonatal intensive care unit
Insights
Parents face barriers to assuming roles in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Understanding these challenges is key to implementing family-centered care and improving services for hospitalized infants and their families.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) care
- Parental adaptation and support
- Family-centered care models
Background:
- Neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) are evolving, with increasing emphasis on integrating parents into infant care.
- Family-centered care is the ideal framework for NICU services, promoting parental involvement.
- Parents' ability to assume their roles is crucial for infant well-being and family adaptation during hospitalization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify variables perceived by parents as barriers to assuming parental roles during infant hospitalization in the NICU.
- To inform program development and service delivery improvements within the NICU setting.
- To support the implementation of family-centered care principles.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative or quantitative examination of parental perceptions regarding barriers in the NICU.
- Analysis of factors hindering parental role assumption.
- Data collection to identify actionable insights for service improvement.
Main Results:
- Identification of specific barriers encountered by parents in the NICU environment.
- Understanding the impact of these barriers on parental role assumption.
- Data highlighting areas for pragmatic intervention in NICU program development.
Conclusions:
- Addressing parental-perceived barriers is essential for successful implementation of family-centered care.
- Service delivery and program development in NICUs should be adapted based on parental feedback.
- Enhancing parental role assumption can improve outcomes for infants and families in the NICU.
Abstract:
Although there are several forces driving changes with regard to parents within neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), they all culminate in the ideals represented in family-centered care. This article examined the variables that are perceived by parents to be barriers to their assumption of parental roles while their infants were hospitalized in the NICU. Data were used to support and implement pragmatic changes in program development and service delivery within the NICU.