Abstract
Objective: To discover parental preferences about visiting during ward rounds.
Design: Survey using a short structured interview
Setting and participants: Families of babies cared for in a regional neonatal intensive care unit.
Results: Eighty six respondents, no refusals. Sixty three had visited during a ward round, and 13 had come in especially for the round. About half had overheard conversations about other babies or thought discussions about their baby had been overheard. Concerns about these experiences were only expressed by respondents who had actually experienced overhearing. Parents and families had little information about the ward round, held diverse views, and expressed different priorities. They described a mixture of concerns about communication, practicalities, and issues of ethics and principle. Confidentiality was a matter of concern for some, but many parents expected some sharing of information between families on the unit.
Conclusions: Units should consider: the information they have for parents about ward rounds; the possibility that consultations may be overheard; the opportunities for parents to communicate with the clinical team.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (53.5 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Affleck G., Tennen H., Rowe J., Higgins P. Mothers' remembrances of newborn intensive care: a predictive study. J Pediatr Psychol. 1990 Feb;15(1):67–81. doi: 10.1093/jpepsy/15.1.67. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Birtwistle L., Houghton J. M., Rostill H. A review of a surgical ward round in a large paediatric hospital: does it achieve its aims? Med Educ. 2000 May;34(5):398–403. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2923.2000.00569.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Cuttini M., Rebagliato M., Bortoli P., Hansen G., de Leeuw R., Lenoir S., Persson J., Reid M., Schroell M., de Vonderweid U. Parental visiting, communication, and participation in ethical decisions: a comparison of neonatal unit policies in Europe. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 1999 Sep;81(2):F84–F91. doi: 10.1136/fn.81.2.f84. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Parmanum J., Field D., Rennie J., Steer P. National census of availability of neonatal intensive care. British Association for Perinatal Medicine. BMJ. 2000 Sep 23;321(7263):727–729. doi: 10.1136/bmj.321.7263.727. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Perlman N. B., Freedman J. L., Abramovitch R., Whyte H., Kirpalani H., Perlman M. Informational needs of parents of sick neonates. Pediatrics. 1991 Sep;88(3):512–518. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Redshaw M. E., Harris A. Maternal perceptions of neonatal care. Acta Paediatr. 1995 Jun;84(6):593–598. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1995.tb13705.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Reid M., Andersen E. Variations in family visiting policies in neonatal intensive care units in eleven EC countries. EC Study Group of Parental Involvement in Neonatal Care. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 1994 Jan;8(1):41–52. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3016.1994.tb00434.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Rylance G. Privacy, dignity, and confidentiality: interview study with structured questionnaire. BMJ. 1999 Jan 30;318(7179):301–301. doi: 10.1136/bmj.318.7179.301. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Shellabarger S. G., Thompson T. L. The critical times: meeting parental communication needs throughout the NICU experience. Neonatal Netw. 1993 Mar;12(2):39–45. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Steele S. J., Morton D. J. The ward round. Lancet. 1978 Jan 14;1(8055):85–86. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(78)90017-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wereszczak J., Miles M. S., Holditch-Davis D. Maternal recall of the neonatal intensive care unit. Neonatal Netw. 1997 Jun;16(4):33–40. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Yu V. Y., Jamieson J., Astbury J. Parents' reactions to unrestricted parental contact with infants in the intensive care nursery. Med J Aust. 1981 Mar 21;1(6):294–296. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1981.tb135579.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]