Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Nov 11;9(11):1739.
doi: 10.3390/children9111739.

Improving Communication with Parents in the NICU during the COVID-19 Pandemic, a Study and Review of the Literature

Arieh Riskin  1   2 , Shlomit Shlezinger  3 , Lital Yonai  1 , Frida Mor  1 , Limor Partom  1 , Elinor Monacis-Winkler  1 , Keren Odler  1 , Maria Goroshko  1 , Ayala Gover  1   2
Affiliations

Improving Communication with Parents in the NICU during the COVID-19 Pandemic, a Study and Review of the Literature

Arieh Riskin et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: Communication with parents of sick premature and term infants in the NICU is complicated and challenging. Multiple efforts have been made to improve it, including the introduction of new electronic-based measures.

Aim: We aimed to study the influence of implementation of a new communication technology on parents' satisfaction with care in the NICU during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Infants were video-recorded in their incubators or cots without being disturbed. These short films, with voice updates on the infant's condition, were sent on a daily basis to their parents via a WhatsApp application.

Results: Parents who chose to join the new communication project (study group) were older, and their infants were more premature. Parents were satisfied with this new communication modality. Satisfaction scores in both study and control groups were high, but not significantly different.

Conclusions: Although the implementation of the new communication project was successful, we could not demonstrate significant improvement in satisfaction scores that were high in study and control groups, reflecting baseline high satisfaction. Further studies are needed employing other assessment tools in order to evaluate other aspects of parents' satisfaction with new modalities of communication introduced to the NICU, and their effects on parents' bonding with their infants.

Keywords: NICU; communication; parents; satisfaction; technology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Obeidat H.M., Bond E.A., Callister L.C. The parental experience of having an infant in the newborn intensive care unit. J. Perinat. Educ. 2009;18:23–29. doi: 10.1624/105812409X461199. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wigert H., Blom M.D., Bry K. Parents’ experiences of communication with neonatal intensive-care unit staff: An interview study. BMC Pediatr. 2014;14:304. doi: 10.1186/s12887-014-0304-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Al Maghaireh D.F., Abdullah K.L., Chan C.M., Piaw C.Y., Al Kawafha M.M. Systematic review of qualitative studies exploring parental experiences in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. J. Clin. Nurs. 2016;25:2745–2756. doi: 10.1111/jocn.13259. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Fox S., Platt F.W., White M.K., Hulac P. Talking about the unthinkable: Perinatal/neonatal communication issues and procedures. Clin. Perinatol. 2005;32:157–170. doi: 10.1016/j.clp.2004.11.011. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Orzalesi M., Aite L. Communication with parents in neonatal intensive care. J. Matern. Fetal Neonatal Med. 2011;24:135–137. doi: 10.3109/14767058.2011.607682. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources