TY - JOUR
T1 - Family integrated care: Supporting parents as primary caregivers in the neonatal intensive care unit
AU - Waddington, Chandra
AU - van Veenendaal, Nicole R.
AU - O’Brien, Karel
AU - International Steering Committee for Family Integrated Care
AU - Patel, Neil
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Chinese Medical Association. Pediatric Investigation published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Futang Research Center of Pediatric Development.
PY - 2021/6/1
Y1 - 2021/6/1
N2 - Family integrated care (FICare) is a collaborative model of neonatal care which aims to address the negative impacts of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) environment by involving parents as equal partners, minimizing separation, and supporting parent-infant closeness. FICare incorporates psychological, educational, communication, and environmental strategies to support parents to cope with the NICU environment and to prepare them to be able to emotionally, cognitively, and physically care for their infant. FICare has been associated with improved infant feeding, growth, and parent wellbeing and self-efficacy; important mediators for long-term improved infant neurodevelopmental and behavioural outcomes. FICare implementation requires multi-disciplinary commitment, staff motivation, and sufficient time for preparation and readiness for change as professionals relinquish power and control to instead develop collaborative partnerships with parents. Successful FICare implementation and culture change have been applied by neonatal teams internationally, using practical approaches suited to their local environments. Strategies such as parent and staff meetings and relational communication help to break down barriers to change by providing space for the co-creation of knowledge, the negotiation of caregiving roles and the development of trusting relationships. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerability within programs supporting parental presence in neonatal units and the profound impacts of parent-infant separation. New technologies and digital innovations can help to mitigate these challenges, and support renewed efforts to embed FICare philosophy and practice in neonatal care during the COVID-19 recovery and beyond.
AB - Family integrated care (FICare) is a collaborative model of neonatal care which aims to address the negative impacts of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) environment by involving parents as equal partners, minimizing separation, and supporting parent-infant closeness. FICare incorporates psychological, educational, communication, and environmental strategies to support parents to cope with the NICU environment and to prepare them to be able to emotionally, cognitively, and physically care for their infant. FICare has been associated with improved infant feeding, growth, and parent wellbeing and self-efficacy; important mediators for long-term improved infant neurodevelopmental and behavioural outcomes. FICare implementation requires multi-disciplinary commitment, staff motivation, and sufficient time for preparation and readiness for change as professionals relinquish power and control to instead develop collaborative partnerships with parents. Successful FICare implementation and culture change have been applied by neonatal teams internationally, using practical approaches suited to their local environments. Strategies such as parent and staff meetings and relational communication help to break down barriers to change by providing space for the co-creation of knowledge, the negotiation of caregiving roles and the development of trusting relationships. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerability within programs supporting parental presence in neonatal units and the profound impacts of parent-infant separation. New technologies and digital innovations can help to mitigate these challenges, and support renewed efforts to embed FICare philosophy and practice in neonatal care during the COVID-19 recovery and beyond.
KW - Caregivers
KW - Family integrated care
KW - Neonatal intensive care
KW - Parent-child
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85108104182&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ped4.12277
DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/ped4.12277
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34179713
SN - 2574-2272
VL - 5
SP - 148
EP - 154
JO - Pediatric Investigation
JF - Pediatric Investigation
IS - 2
ER -