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Parental views on attending neonatal intensive care ward rounds
Claire Caldwell1, Victoria MacBean2, Katie Hunt1,3
1Department of Women and Children's Health, School of Life Course Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, King's College London, London, UK.
Insights
Parents value neonatal unit ward rounds, finding them useful. However, barriers like travel time and childcare limit attendance, despite high awareness of when rounds occur.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- Parental engagement
- Healthcare communication
Background:
- Neonatal unit ward rounds are crucial for care coordination.
- Parental involvement in neonatal care can improve outcomes.
- Understanding parental perspectives on ward round participation is essential.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate parental views on participating in neonatal unit ward rounds.
- To identify factors influencing parental attendance at ward rounds.
- To assess parental experiences and concerns regarding ward round confidentiality.
Main Methods:
- A service evaluation project was conducted in a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit.
- Structured interviews were performed bedside with parents of infants on the unit.
- Data collected included awareness of ward rounds, attendance, reasons for non-attendance, and confidentiality concerns.
Main Results:
- 23 out of 24 parents interviewed participated.
- 75% of parents had attended at least one ward round, rating usefulness as 5/5.
- Barriers to attendance included travel time, cost, work, and childcare; nurses' proactive updates reduced perceived need for attendance.
Conclusions:
- Parents recognize the value and positive experience of neonatal ward rounds.
- Attendance is limited by practical constraints such as time, cost, and family responsibilities.
- Most parents are not concerned about confidentiality unless sensitive information is shared.
Objectives:
To ascertain parental views regarding taking part in neonatal unit ward rounds.
Design:
A service evaluation project.
Setting:
Tertiary neonatal intensive care unit.
Patients:
Parent(s) of infants receiving care on the neonatal unit.
Interventions:
Structured interviews conducted at the cot side.
Main Outcome Measures:
Parents were asked if they knew when ward rounds occurred, whether they had attended ward rounds and if they had not what were the factors inhibiting them from doing so, their experience of attending ward rounds and whether they were concerned about issues of confidentiality.
Results:
23 of 24 consecutive parents agreed to be interviewed. The median age of their infants was 14 (range 3 - 123) days when they were interviewed. Eighty-five per cent were able to identify when a nursing handover or doctor's ward round occurred. Seventy-five per cent of parents had attended at least one ward round and the median score in terms of usefulness was 5 out of 5. Reasons for not attending included time and cost to travel to the unit, their partners were working and having other children. Parents volunteered that the nurses proactively updated them as soon as they arrived, hence making regular attendance less important. Regarding confidentiality, 85% were not concerned if other people overheard information about their baby, unless the news was bad.
Conclusions:
Parents recognised the value of attending ward rounds and generally found it a positive experience, but emphasised limitations on their ability to attend.
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