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Communicating with parents in the NICU

Journal of Perinatology volume 26, page 134 (2006)Cite this article

Family-centered care, the sine qua non of neonatal intensive care units, necessitates communication between parents and all the staff who participate in an infant's care. In the face of this pivotal necessity and the limited research to date, a study of parent-NICU staff communication compels attention. The findings of Kowalski and co-workers1 concerning the most helpful sources who provide medical information for parents and the expectations parents have for obtaining clear medical information are counter-intuitive and provocative.

In an NICU setting advantaged with a well-educated population of parents and the opportunity to be present at daily rounds, the finding that nurses, rather than neonatologists, spent the maximum time explaining the baby's condition, were the best source of information about the baby, and were the ones to tell parents about important changes in their baby's medical condition is, on the surface, perplexing. The person identified by parents as ‘the neonatologist’ may not have been viewed as accessible, available, or approachable, and daily rounds may not have been designed with the parents’ participation and understanding in mind. Nevertheless, the neonatologist was the person who the majority of parents expected to tell them about important changes in the baby's medical condition.

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References

  1. Wendy J, Kowalski WJ, Leef KH, Mackley A, Spear ML, Paul DA . Communicating with parents of premature infants: who is the informant? J Perinatol 2006; 26: 1.

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  2. Bretherton I, Munholland KA . Internal working models in attachment relationships: a construct revisited. In: Cassidy J, Shaver, PR (eds). Handbook of Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Applications, Guilford Press: New York; 1999. pp. 89–111.

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  1. School of Nursing, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA

    K F Pridham

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  1. K F Pridham
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Correspondence to K F Pridham.

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Pridham, K. Communicating with parents in the NICU. J Perinatol 26, 134 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jp.7211443

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