Family-Centered Care for the Newborn

Many regulatory and professional agencies countenance the idea of patient-and family-centred care, yet lack an infrastructure able to support such care or employ health care professionals who lack the necessary education, experience, or skills. This book is a comprehensive guide to family-centred care for healthy, ill, or preterm newborns. It guides health care professionals in creating, supporting and advancing a culture that values partnerships with families. The book is replete with practical suggestions, strategies for effectively communicating with families and best practises for health professionals who wish to develop partnerships with families before and after childbirth.

At the core of family-centred care is the belief that family-centred care and the ability to convey its particular language is as important to newborn and family wellbeing as clinical care. The book is based on four guiding principles that include treating people with dignity and respect, providing information in ways that are useful and affirming, welcoming family participation in care and decision-making at a level chosen by the family and collaborating with families at the bedside and beyond. The book offers strategies to promote implementation of a family-centred environment in the delivery room or NICU, practical approaches to communicating with families before and after delivery and tips on policy review to facilitate a culture of family-centred care. It also discusses how to welcome families during interdisciplinary rounds and nurse hand-offs and ways to support families during procedures and resuscitation.