Single-room infant care: future trends in special care nursery planning and design

Area of Science:

• Neonatal care
• Pediatric environmental design
• Family-centered healthcare

Background:

• Healthcare providers are optimizing the environment for premature and sick neonates.
• Involving families in neonatal care improves outcomes for both families and neonates.
• Integrating developmentally supportive care and family-centered care is a key focus.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the integration of developmentally supportive and family-centered care in designing a special care nursery.
• To illustrate how parents are embraced as partners in treatment within this new design.
• To describe the design process and multidisciplinary team collaboration.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing developmentally supportive care and family-centered care principles.
• Describing each phase of design development: space programming, schematic design, environmental design, and design development.
• Highlighting the successful use of a multidisciplinary team.

Main Results:

• A Level II special care nursery was designed incorporating both care concepts.
• Parents were successfully integrated as partners in the treatment process.
• The multidisciplinary team effectively collaborated throughout the design phases.

Conclusions:

• The integration of developmentally supportive and family-centered care optimizes the special care nursery environment.
• Embracing parents as partners enhances neonatal outcomes and family value.
• A collaborative, multidisciplinary approach is crucial for successful nursery design.