Abstract

Communication between parents and professionals in the NICU is a necessary part of collaborative decision making in the provision of family-centered care. Decisions with ethical components, those regarding treatment plans or neonatal research enrollment, need to be made conjointly with parents and health care professionals. This article reviews the present state of knowledge of how parents' input can be facilitated in regard to decisions made about their children. Research studies involving decisions made with ethical components in the NICU since the advent of the Baby Doe regulations reveal parents' frustration with communication practices, their need for control of information, and the trust in their children's health care providers that is required to best facilitate their input into ethical decisions made about their children.

Links

Publisher Full Text

Authors

Ward FR

Institution

University of Pennsylvania, USA. frances@nursing.upenn.edu

Source

Neonatal network : NN 24:3 pg 25-33

MeSH

Attitude to Health
Canada
Communication
Cooperative Behavior
Decision Making
Disabled Children
Europe
Family Nursing
Frustration
Great Britain
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Informed Consent
Intensive Care Units, Neonatal
Intensive Care, Neonatal
Neonatal Nursing
Nursing Methodology Research
Nursing Staff, Hospital
Parents
Patient Care Planning
Patient-Centered Care
Professional-Family Relations
United States
Withholding Treatment

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Review

Language

eng

PubMed ID

15960009