Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 28, 2025
Clinical Practice Protocol of Creative Music Therapy for Preterm Infants and Their Parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Published on: January 7, 2020
Culture of Family-Centered Care in the NICU
Sophia Strine1, Stella Karuri, Jessica T Fry
1Author Affiliations: Colby College, Waterville, ME (Ms Strine); Quantitative Science, Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL (Dr Karuri); Department of Pediatrics, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL (Drs Fry, Horner, and Machut); Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL (Drs Fry and Machut); and Department of Pediatrics, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL (Dr Bean).
Background:
Family centered-care (FCC) has documented benefits for infants, parents, and staff, but is variably practiced.
Purpose:
To describe parental and staff perspectives on the quality of FCC culture in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Methods:
Parents of hospitalized infants and staff at a referral NICU completed validated survey instruments to measure NICU FCC quality on topics including trust, communication, and shared decision-making at multiple time points. We compared parent and staff responses using a cumulative log-odds model with a single predictor to model the odds of a score lower than a prespecified value.
Results:
A total of 92 parents of 80 NICU infants and 96 NICU providers participated. Most rated items highly, indicating a positive experience with FCC. The items with the highest scores for parents were receiving guidance and being trusted in their infant's care (both 97.1% positive); for staff, listening to parents (95%). Receiving/providing emotional support received the lowest scores from parents (19.1% negative or neutral) and staff (24.5%). Parent and staff answers differed significantly for 6 of 8 questions, with lower scores reported by staff relative to parents.
Implications For Practice And Research:
Parents and staff have variable perspectives on different aspects of FCC. Understanding these nuances of centers' FCC culture can help target interventions and may strengthen FCC delivery for NICU infants and families and career satisfaction for staff. Future directions include assessing FCC quality over time and among specific infant, family, and staff cohorts, especially diverse populations to determine if FCC is equitably delivered.
Related Concept Videos
01:13Patient-centered Care
01:21Interdisciplinary Care: The Health Care Team-I
Physicians
The physician's primary responsibility is to diagnose illness and direct the medical or surgical treatment of the condition. The authority to admit patients to a healthcare agency or institution and practice care within that setting is granted to physicians by the healthcare agency or institution...
01:18Interdisciplinary Care: The Health Care Team-II
Physical Therapist
A physical therapist (PT) aims to restore function or prevent additional impairment in a patient following an injury or disease. Massage, heat, cold, water, sonar waves, exercises, and electrical stimulation are some treatments used by PTs to treat...
01:27Nursing Clinical Information System
A Nursing Clinical Information System (NCIS) is a specialized type of healthcare information system tailored to meet the unique needs of nursing practice. It incorporates the principles of nursing informatics to streamline information management and improve the quality of care delivery.
Critical attributes of NCIS include:
01:30Specialized Care Centers and Settings-I
Daycare centers
They provide several functions. Some facilities care for healthy newborns and children whose parents work, while others are medically focused and care for...
01:30Specialized Care Centers and Settings-II
Rural health centers are specialized care facilities in remote locations with very few medical personnel. The primary care providers who run the centers are mostly Registered Nurse Practitioners. Here, emergency treatment is provided to critically ill or injured patients before they are transferred to the closest hospital. Fortunately, due to advancement in technology, many rural healthcare facilities and professionals have easy access to diagnostic and treatment...