Family-centered care: shifting orientation

To practice in a family-centered manner requires nurses to shift from a professionally-centered view of health care to a collaborative model that recognizes families as central in a child's life and their values and priorities as central in the plan of care. Nursing strategies to promote the family's role as primary caregiver for their child include recognizing and accepting diverse styles of family coping, helping families recognize their strengths and methods of coping, reassuring parents regarding their essential role, and facilitating family involvement and caregiving. The use of communication models such as LEARN and the Nursing Mutual Participation Model of Care can facilitate collaborative parent-professional relationships. A brief review of research on families of children critically or chronically ill implies that care for children and their families can improve when family-centered practices are implemented in health care settings.