Objective: To determine nurses' perceptions and practices of identified elements of family-centered care.
Design: Descriptive.
Setting: Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), pediatrics, and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) in an acute care hospital.
Participants: Sixty-two licensed nurses, 37 working in the NICU and 25 working in pediatrics or the PICU.
Main outcome measures: Scores for the Necessary and Current scales of the Family-Centered Care Questionnaire.
Results: Scores representing current nursing practice of family-centered care were significantly lower than those representing its necessity (p = .000). Nurses with 10 years or fewer of neonatal or pediatric experience scored significantly higher on both the total Necessary Scale (p = .02) and total Current Scale (p = .017) than did those with 11 years or more. Nurses who work in the NICU scored significantly lower on the total Necessary Scale (p = .013) than did nurses who work in pediatrics or PICU.
Conclusions: Although nurses agree the identified elements of family-centered care are necessary, they do not consistently apply those elements in their everyday practice. Years of experience and clinical work setting influenced both perceptions and practices of family-centered care.