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. 2022 May 13;19(10):5917.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19105917.

Ten Years of Neonatal Intensive Care Adaption to the Infants' Needs: Implementation of a Family-Centered Care Model with Single-Family Rooms in Norway

Lene Tandle Lyngstad  1 , Flore Le Marechal  1 , Birgitte Lenes Ekeberg  1 , Krzysztof Hochnowski  1 , Mariann Hval  1 , Bente Silnes Tandberg  1
Affiliations

Ten Years of Neonatal Intensive Care Adaption to the Infants' Needs: Implementation of a Family-Centered Care Model with Single-Family Rooms in Norway

Lene Tandle Lyngstad et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Ten years ago, the Neonatal intensive care unit in Drammen, Norway, implemented Single-Family Rooms (SFR), replacing the traditional open bay (OB) unit. Welcoming parents to stay together with their infant 24 h per day, seven days per week, was both challenging and inspiring. The aim of this paper is to describe the implementation of SFR and how they have contributed to a cultural change among the interprofessional staff. Parents want to participate in infant care, but to do so, they need information and supervision from nurses, as well as emotional support. Although SFR protect infants and provide private accommodation for parents, nurses may feel isolated and lack peer support. Our paper describes how we managed to systematically reorganize the nurse's workflow by using a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle approach. Significant milestones are identified, and the implementation processes are displayed. The continuous parental presence has changed the way we perceive the family as a care recipient and how we involve the parents in daily care. We provide visions for the future with further developments of care adapted to infants' needs by providing neonatal intensive care with parents as equal partners.

Keywords: Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle; cultural change; family-centered care; implementation; neonatal intensive care unit; parents; single family room.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean number of blood samples per patient stay per year.
Figure 2
Figure 2
PDSA cycle (The W. Edwards Deming Institute®, Ketchum, ID, USA).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Elements of providing care adapting to the infants needs in a Single-Family Room NICU.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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