How to hold an effective NICU family meeting: capturing parent perspectives to build a more robust framework

To record the content and parental perceptions of family meetings in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to improve existing frameworks for facilitating these meetings.

A prospective, mixed-methods study. NICU family meetings were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by an iteratively derived coding framework until thematic saturation. We used descriptive statistics of parental post-meeting assessments.

Qualitative analysis of 21 meetings identified both Communication Facilitators and Barriers. Facilitators included use of visual-aids and participation of social workers to clarify information for parents. Barriers included staff rarely eliciting parental comprehension (3 meetings) or concerns (5) before providing new information, resulting in 39% of parents reporting they didn't ask questions they wanted to ask. In 33% of meetings an important participant was absent.

This novel qualitative and quantitative dataset of NICU family meetings highlights areas for improving communication. Attention to these components may improve parental perceptions of family meetings.