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How to hold an effective NICU family meeting: capturing parent perspectives to build a more robust framework

Journal of Perinatology volume 41, pages 2217–2224 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

To record the content and parental perceptions of family meetings in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to improve existing frameworks for facilitating these meetings.

Study design

A prospective, mixed-methods study. NICU family meetings were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by an iteratively derived coding framework until thematic saturation. We used descriptive statistics of parental post-meeting assessments.

Results

Qualitative analysis of 21 meetings identified both Communication Facilitators and Barriers. Facilitators included use of visual-aids and participation of social workers to clarify information for parents. Barriers included staff rarely eliciting parental comprehension (3 meetings) or concerns (5) before providing new information, resulting in 39% of parents reporting they didn’t ask questions they wanted to ask. In 33% of meetings an important participant was absent.

Conclusions

This novel qualitative and quantitative dataset of NICU family meetings highlights areas for improving communication. Attention to these components may improve parental perceptions of family meetings.

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Fig. 1: Recommended framework for conducting effective family meetings.

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Acknowledgements

Supported by The Beryl Institute Patient Experience Grant to MD.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Matthew Drago, John M. Lorenz, Jennifer Hammond, George E. Hardart & Marilyn C. Morris

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Matthew Drago

Authors
  1. Matthew Drago
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  2. John M. Lorenz
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  3. Jennifer Hammond
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  4. George E. Hardart
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  5. Marilyn C. Morris
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Contributions

MD substantially contributed to study design, data acquisition, interpretation, and writing of the initial manuscript draft as well as approved the final manuscript as submitted. JML substantially contributed to study design, data acquisition, data analysis and approved the final manuscript as submitted. JH substantially contributed to data analysis and approved the final manuscript as submitted. GEH substantially contributed to study design, data analysis and approved the final manuscript as submitted. MCM substantially contributed to study design, data acquisition, data analysis and approved the final manuscript as submitted.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew Drago.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval

The study was conducted with the approval of the Columbia University Medical Center Internal Review Board. Informed consent was obtained from all participants in the study. The study was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Drago, M., Lorenz, J.M., Hammond, J. et al. How to hold an effective NICU family meeting: capturing parent perspectives to build a more robust framework. J Perinatol 41, 2217–2224 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-021-01051-4

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