A Summary of the article: Implementing Potentially Better Practices for Improving Family-Centered Care in Neonatal Intensive Care Units: Successes and Challenges Multidisciplinary teams from eleven different medical center neonatal intensive care units worked together to rate a quality improvement project that focuses on family centered care. The article gives proof that family-centered care is more than just a destination, it is a journey. Considering the nature of NICUs, begin at different places and proceed along different paths (Moore, et al. , 2003).
These eleven health centers participated in the Vermont Oxford Network Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Quality Improvement Collaborative Year 2000 that decided to adopt a family-centered approach in their hopes to improve the quality of their NICUs in taking care of infants. These health care systems recognize the need for a family-centered care since this particular approach is proven to improve clinical outcomes for children with special needs.
The particular article looks into the successes and challenges encountered by these health centers and how their visions and philosophies efficiently meet the objectives of family-centered approach. Vision and Philosophy are perhaps the most important aspect of a health care that displays their commitment to family-centered care as this should be consistent with their policies, practices and programs. The vision and philosophy of these health centers gives them the fundamental foundation they need to draft the NICU’s policies, decisions, goals and new directions.
Without the vision and the belief system, they could not obviously give the necessary things that could help in paving the way for their improvement that could result in the inconsistency of family centered care practices as well as decision making (Moore, et al. , 2003). Cultural competence, according to McPherson (2005), is the set of values, behaviors, attitudes and practices within an organization, program, among individuals which enable them to work effectively.
An aspect of this is the competence of the organization to communicate with their patients effectively, including the transmission of the organization’s goals to the patients and their families. Under the family-center care system, families are not just visitors but viewed as important members of the team that takes care of their infants. At the same time, families are considered to be the primary decision makers for their child’s health. They are asked how they would like to take part in their infants’ care. Afterwards, they shall e given the chance to discuss and record the observations of their infants (Moore, et al., 2003).
Health institutions have different reactions when it comes to the role of the parents in caring for their infants. Others exclude parents by not letting them participate in rounds, by just allowing them to be with their children twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Most centers have rewritten guidelines to be able to set extended family members apart from the immediate ones (Moore, et al. , 2003). One of the ethical implications of family-centered care is the increase in the participation of families in the health care of patients, especially those of children.
At the same time, it is said that in spite of this, the participation of parents in health care is limited. In the same way, parents would often get disappointed when their staff members and other health professionals do not treat their children properly. Often, they feel that professionals (doctors and nurses) do not give much attention to their children which cause them fear. Because of this, it is suggested that professionals listen to the concerns of the families of their patients.
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