Original ArticlePerceptions of Parents, Nurses, and Physicians on Neonatal Intensive Care Practices
Section snippets
Methods
The exploratory and descriptive studies were designed as a 3-round Delphi method for nurses and physicians and an exploratory survey method for parents. The Delphi study was conducted first. The results of this study were then used for the survey among parents. Both studies were completed between May 2007 and May 2008. The medical ethical review board of the Erasmus University Medical Centre gave approval for the study.
The setting was a 30-bed level III NICU in The Netherlands. The yearly
Results
Of the 98 healthcare professionals who consented to participate in the Delphi study, 81 (83%) completed all 3 questionnaires (68 nurses and 13 physicians). Table I presents characteristics of the participants in each Delphi round. NICU experience ranged from 0.50 to 27 years and professional experience ranged from 1 to 35 years. The demographic variables for nonrespondents and respondents in round 3 did not differ significantly.
The first round yielded 419 short statements on neonatal care
Discussion
Being more aware of family-centered care, healthcare professionals today strive to empower parents in the care of their child in the NICU. Insight into parental perceptions is available,3, 18, 19 but there appears to be a gap between knowledge and practice.20, 21 This is remarkable because the impact of family-centered care initiatives has positive effects on parental stress, comfort, and confidence.4 Thus, assessments of parental experiences and needs are warranted to improve our services
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Supported in part by a grant from the Nuts OHRA foundation (SNO-T-0501114). The sponsor was not involved in the study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of data, the manuscript, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.