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Existing Tools for Improving Day-to-Day Communication With Parents in Neonatology: A Narrative Review
Gabriel Lucile1, Berne-Audéoud Frédérique2, Rébeillé Borgella Blandine2
1Paediatric Department, Grenoble Alpes University Hospital, La Tronche, France.
Insights
Neonatologists can enhance parent communication by mastering basic skills, utilizing structured tools, and engaging in simulation training. These strategies improve interactions in neonatal intensive care units.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- Medical communication
Background:
- Effective communication is crucial in pediatrics but often overlooked.
- Parent communication in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) requires specific skills.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review literature on improving parent communication skills for neonatologists.
- To identify key communication strategies applicable in the NICU setting.
Main Methods:
- Systematic literature search of PubMed (January 2023 - May 2025).
- Exclusion of articles on sensitive topics like end-of-life or ethics.
- Deductive and inductive thematic analysis of 37 included articles.
Main Results:
- Identified three core themes: basic communication skills, methods to enhance communication, and learning communication skills.
- Basic skills include preparation, personalization, caregiver consistency, psychosocial awareness, non-verbal cues, and understanding parental information needs.
- Enhancement methods involve checklists, algorithms, written materials, counseling tools, digital communication, and culturally adapted approaches. Skills can be learned via simulation and counseling.
Conclusions:
- Neonatologists can improve communication through foundational interaction techniques.
- Structured frameworks, parent-focused written resources, and simulation-based training are vital.
- Implementing these strategies can significantly enhance the quality of parent-neonatologist communication.
Aim:
Communication is essential, yet rarely taught in paediatrics. The literature describes skills to improve parent communication in neonatal intensive care units.
Methods:
A PubMed search from 1 January 2023 to 5 May 2025 retrieved articles on communication in neonatology. Communication related to poor prognosis, end-of-life, antenatal issues, ethics and family integrated care was excluded. Data underwent deductive and inductive thematic analysis.
Results:
The review included 37 articles, with three themes: basic skills of good communication, means of strengthening communication and learning communication skills. Basic skills comprised: preparing the meeting, using the infant's name, having a dedicated caregiver, being interested in psychosocial and lifestyle issues, paying attention to non-verbal communication and being aware of what the parents want to know and knowing how to say it. Means of strengthening communication comprised acronym checklists, communication algorithms, written information, counselling tools, FaceTime or text-messaging and adapting communication for non-native-speaking parents. Communication skills could be learned by simulation and calling on a counsellor.
Conclusion:
This review highlighted some of the ways in which neonatologists can improve communication skills. Knowing basic interactions, using structured frameworks, giving written tools for parents and running communication training simulations are some of the key elements highlighted in the literature.
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