Comprehensive and Innovative Clinical Tools for Nurses and Parents to Help Promote Family and Sibling Adaptation in the NICU

Abstract

Family-centered care (FCC) in NICUs aims to support parents and children facing the distressing experience of a preterm infant's NICU hospitalization. Neonatal nurses must also have proper knowledge of the support interventions for parents' and siblings' adaptation during the NICU hospitalization. This paper describes comprehensive and innovative clinical tools which consist of a clinical reference guide for nurses, a website for parents, and a storybook for siblings to promote families' adaptation, and help parents support their older children during NICU hospitalization. Based on scientific evidence and the family systems nursing approach, these comprehensive and innovative clinical tools for nurses, parents, and siblings contribute, through their development and implementation, to enhancing FCC and the quality of nursing care to families.

Keywords: NICU hospitalization; adaptation; clinical tools; family systems nursing approach; family-centered care; nurses; nursing interventions; parents; sibling.