Shared care: a partnership between parents and nurses

Shared care refers to the formalisation of parents' participation in the care of their hospitalised children. In this paper the planning, implementation and evaluation of a pilot study of shared care in a New South Wales paediatric unit is described. Surveys conducted before and during the pilot study showed that nurses' attitudes to shared care were mostly positive. Parents who participated in shared care also responded positively to the initiative although most had chosen to limit their participation to basic care activities. According to State Trait Anxiety Inventory scores, 50% fewer parents who had experienced shared care were very anxious at the time their children were discharged than parents whose children were hospitalised prior to the introduction of shared care.