In pediatric and neonatal critical care settings, patient and family-centered care is related to the professional support of infants, children, parents and other family members through a process of involvement, participation and partnership, underpinned by empowerment and negotiation. Basically, patient and family-centered care is an approach to the planning, delivery, and evaluation of healthcare grounded in beneficial partnerships among patients, families, and healthcare providers. Healthcare professionals need to acknowledge and respect the needs of patients and parents, including their cultural and spiritual backgrounds. At the same time, information given to parents must be understandable and transparent. Parents must be encouraged to participate in the care and decision-making processes of their infant or child, including to be welcomed 24-hours in the pediatric or neonatal intensive care unit. This would also include their presence during a resuscitation of their infant or child.
Parents are important partners to collaborate with the multidisciplinary team in critical care settings, such as pediatric and neonatal intensive care, to improve quality of care. Doctors, nurses and allied health professionals must recognize the importance of family-centered care in daily practice. However, evidence suggest that they do not consistently implement these elements into practice. Another difficulty for healthcare professionals is to define who and what the family unit encompasses. Consequently, the parental needs, experiences and satisfaction have received little attention as an outcome measure in neonatology and pediatric critical care. So far, there is a growing interest around the world to establish standardized family-centered care outcome measures. An example is the EMPATHIC questionnaire measuring parent satisfaction and experiences in pediatric and neonatal intensive care settings that has been translated and validated in many languages and colleagues around the world are still working on these validation and cultural adaptation studies. Other colleagues have meanwhile gone into intervention studies to improve family-centered care practices. The Canadian FICare study is a great example of building an international network to improve family-centered care practices in neonatology. It is very exciting to see so many new ideas and interventions developed by colleagues to improve clinical outcomes of children and parents in pediatric and neonatal intensive care settings.
The aim of the Research Topic 'Family-Centered Care in Pediatric and Neonatal Critical Care Settings' is to build upon the current evidence and extend the body of knowledge related to the care of infants, children and their parents and family members. This Research Topic is specifically organized to contribute to a framework for action to implement effective family-centered care interventions and to provide evidence of evaluating current family-centered care practices in neonatology and pediatric intensive care settings.
This Research Topic seeks to publish and promote all forms of research that will contribute to the promotion of health outcomes of critically ill infants, children and their family members. Papers from clinicians and researchers across the world in pediatric and neonatal critical care disciplines are welcomed. We accept papers that present the results of a family-centered care project such as research studies, systematic reviews, audits, or quality improvement projects.
In pediatric and neonatal critical care settings, patient and family-centered care is related to the professional support of infants, children, parents and other family members through a process of involvement, participation and partnership, underpinned by empowerment and negotiation. Basically, patient and family-centered care is an approach to the planning, delivery, and evaluation of healthcare grounded in beneficial partnerships among patients, families, and healthcare providers. Healthcare professionals need to acknowledge and respect the needs of patients and parents, including their cultural and spiritual backgrounds. At the same time, information given to parents must be understandable and transparent. Parents must be encouraged to participate in the care and decision-making processes of their infant or child, including to be welcomed 24-hours in the pediatric or neonatal intensive care unit. This would also include their presence during a resuscitation of their infant or child.
Parents are important partners to collaborate with the multidisciplinary team in critical care settings, such as pediatric and neonatal intensive care, to improve quality of care. Doctors, nurses and allied health professionals must recognize the importance of family-centered care in daily practice. However, evidence suggest that they do not consistently implement these elements into practice. Another difficulty for healthcare professionals is to define who and what the family unit encompasses. Consequently, the parental needs, experiences and satisfaction have received little attention as an outcome measure in neonatology and pediatric critical care. So far, there is a growing interest around the world to establish standardized family-centered care outcome measures. An example is the EMPATHIC questionnaire measuring parent satisfaction and experiences in pediatric and neonatal intensive care settings that has been translated and validated in many languages and colleagues around the world are still working on these validation and cultural adaptation studies. Other colleagues have meanwhile gone into intervention studies to improve family-centered care practices. The Canadian FICare study is a great example of building an international network to improve family-centered care practices in neonatology. It is very exciting to see so many new ideas and interventions developed by colleagues to improve clinical outcomes of children and parents in pediatric and neonatal intensive care settings.
The aim of the Research Topic 'Family-Centered Care in Pediatric and Neonatal Critical Care Settings' is to build upon the current evidence and extend the body of knowledge related to the care of infants, children and their parents and family members. This Research Topic is specifically organized to contribute to a framework for action to implement effective family-centered care interventions and to provide evidence of evaluating current family-centered care practices in neonatology and pediatric intensive care settings.
This Research Topic seeks to publish and promote all forms of research that will contribute to the promotion of health outcomes of critically ill infants, children and their family members. Papers from clinicians and researchers across the world in pediatric and neonatal critical care disciplines are welcomed. We accept papers that present the results of a family-centered care project such as research studies, systematic reviews, audits, or quality improvement projects.
