Parents’ presence and participation in medical rounds in 11 European neonatal units

Abstract

<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Parents' involvement during hospital care is beneficial for <a title="Learn more about Prematurity" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/prematurity"><u>preterm infants</u></a> and their parents. Although parents are encouraged to be present in many <a title="Learn more about Newborn Intensive Care" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/newborn-intensive-care"><u>neonatal intensive care</u></a> units (NICUs), little is known about their role during medical rounds.</p></div><div><h3>Aims</h3><p>To study parents' presence in the NICU, the degree of parents' participation during medical rounds, and to identify underlying factors for participation.</p></div><div><h3>Study design and subjects</h3><p>A prospective study was performed in 11 neonatal units in six European countries including parents of preterm infants born before 35 gestational weeks.</p></div><div><h3>Outcome measures</h3><p>Parents' presence and the degree of participation (7-point Likert scale) during medical rounds were asked using a text-message question sent to the mobile phone of each parent separately.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>A total of 241 families were included in the study; mothers responded to 630 and fathers to 474 text-message questions, respectively. In studied units, mothers were present during medical rounds on 62.5% to 91% and fathers 30.8% to 77.8% of the days. The degree of mothers' and fathers' participation also varied between units (p < 0.001 and p = 0.022, respectively). In <a title="Learn more about Multivariate Analysis" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/multivariate-analysis"><u>multivariate analysis</u></a>, parents' presence increased by increasing <a title="Learn more about Gestational Age" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/gestational-age"><u>gestational age</u></a> (p = 0.010), fathers' education (p = 0.009), and by the policy in the unit to invite parents to medical rounds (p = 0.036). The background characteristics did not explain the degree of participation.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>There is significant variation between neonatal units in how they include parents in medical rounds. Only few background characteristics explained the differences suggesting that unit culture plays a major role in welcoming parents to participate.<br /></p></div>