Table 2.

Coding framework.

Communication facilitators		Communication barriers
Encouraging dialog		Procedural barriers
Medical Team Eliciting Family Input or Questions	Medical team participant asking family participant if they have any questions, or other input to share. Excludes conversational pauses limited to words such as, “ok?”	Interruptions	Late arrivals or early departures, pagers or telephones ringing.
Family questions	Any questions asked by a family member to medical team. Compound questions were counted as a single question.	Needed participant not present	Indications that a particular medical provider who could answer questions or address specific issues is not present.
Shared decision-making	Statements in which family participates or is invited to participate in decision-making related to the patient.
Informational clarifiers		Informational detractors
Visual aids	Incidents in which a visual aid was used, or the investigators indicated or implied that a visual aid would have been helpful. For example, when a health care provider tries to verbally describe what a tracheostomy looks like.	Team discord/disagreement	Medical team statements of disagreement with other medical providers or hospital policy, or blame or responsibility dispersed to other medical providers present or not present at the meeting. Ie, “Surgery should have talked to you about that.” Any statement that indicates lack of cohesion in medical team function.
Surrogate processing	Incidents in which a non-medical meeting participant asked questions or restated information specifically in order to clarify information for a parent.	Medical Team Misstatements	Statements in which it is clear that a medical team member does not know relevant information or has incorrect information regarding the patient.
		Parent forgot/can’t think of question	Parent stating they have a question but cannot think of it.
		Family not able to understand or participate	Statement in which a family member expresses difficulty fully comprehending, processing, or participating in baby’s medical care.
Emotional validation		Emotional barriers
Parent Empowerment	Giving parents specific things they can do to help their baby, reinforcing positive involvement or parenting behavior.	Family emotional response	Statement conveying family emotions, positive or negative.
Supportive statement	Affirmation or praise of either parent or baby.	Stress of hospitalization	Parents conveying emotional and social burdens of hospitalization.

Definitions of longitudinal and incident codes used for qualitative analysis.