+44 330 818 7254Masumo M. Maureen, Lonia Mwape, Margaret Maimbolwa, Ellen Chirwa
The concept of Family Centred Care (FCC) has been recognised globally as an ideal way of caring for high risk hospitalised neonates. FCC operates to support families as they join in the care of their infant in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Research suggests that while parents desire to participate in the care of their neonates, health professionals experience difficulties in integrating them. Therefore, the aim of this literature review is to discuss parental-professional partnership as one of the core principles of family centred care (FCC) in the NICU. Literature search was conducted in order to identify publications in peer reviewed journals that related to FCC and NICU. A total of 70 articles were retrieved and applying present criteria, 31 were selected as they were relevant to FCC in NICU, parent- professional partnership and its benefits in NICU, and principles of FCC. The key concepts identified as being central to parent-professional partnership in literature included parent–professional interaction, information sharing and benefits of family professional interaction. The results of the reviewed studies revealed that parent-professional partnership was beneficial to parents and neonates as it reduced anxiety and length of hospital stay. It is also clear that staff find difficulties in implementing this partnership in caring for the neonates. It is evident from the literature review that where FCC has been implemented, it has positive outcomes related to both parents and staffs has been recorded in terms of reduction in the levels of stress and improvement in overall wellbeing.
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