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Updated: Jun 27, 2025
Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Improving Parental Knowledge of Medically Complex Neonates Through Scheduled Conferences
Serena Mooney1, Sailaja Devagiri2, Angela Puuri2
1Department of Pediatrics, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC.
Insights
Planned family conferences improved communication for medically complex neonates. This quality improvement project achieved high scheduling and completion rates, enhancing parental satisfaction with neonatal intensive care unit care.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal Medicine
- Quality Improvement Science
- Healthcare Communication
Background:
- Parental dissatisfaction with information quality in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).
- Need for structured communication with families of medically complex neonates.
- Previous lack of consistent follow-up information delivery.
Purpose of the Study:
- To implement and evaluate planned family conferences for medically complex neonates.
- To improve information consistency and parental satisfaction.
- To establish a sustainable communication system within the NICU.
Main Methods:
- Quality improvement project involving planned family conferences at 10 days and 1 month.
- Social workers scheduled conferences; neonatologists conducted them.
- Statistical process control charts used to track measures over 21 months.
Main Results:
- Conferences scheduled for over 80% of eligible families, exceeding the 50% goal.
- Achieved an 86% completion rate for conferences at 10 days and 1 month.
- High parental satisfaction reported; only 2% found meetings burdensome, compared to 14% of physicians.
Conclusions:
- A structured system for family conferences is effective in improving communication and satisfaction.
- Sustainable scheduling and preparation methods, including templates, contribute to successful implementation.
- This quality improvement initiative positively impacted family-centered care in the NICU.
Abstract:
Reports of parental dissatisfaction from incomplete or inconsistent information led to a quality improvement (QI) project to establish planned family conferences at 10 days and 1 month of life, for 50% of the medically complex neonates admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit within 1 year. A QI team instituted a system in which social workers scheduled family conferences and a neonatologist conducted the conferences. Team members tracked measures using statistical process control charts over 21 months. The QI team scheduled conferences for greater than 80% of eligible families, with an 86% completion rate on days 10 and 30, exceeding project goals of 50%. The majority of the families surveyed were satisfied with the meetings. Only 2% of parents surveyed found meetings burdensome, compared to 14% of physicians. A sustainable method for scheduling meetings and preparation for conferences, including the use of a template led to success.
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