In neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) housing multiple bed sites per room, nurses are usually required to ask parents to leave during rounds and shift change to maintain confidentiality. We sought to determine how this policy affects parents and nurses. Qualitative interviews covering shift change, visitation, rounding, and other parents were conducted with 19 nurses and 16 parents in our NICU. Although 63% of parents reported talking to other parents about their infant, one-half of those also stated that confidentiality was important. All parents who stated that confidentiality was important (50%), also did not mind leaving during rounds. Half (56%) of the parents stated that they had been permitted to stay for rounds at least once, and 89% of those reported that they did not understand what was said. Most (84%) nurses stated that confidentiality was important, and 75% of those stated that parents should leave during rounds. Although all nurses thought parents routinely break confidentiality, all examples given related to a single incident. No nurses supported decreased time for visitation; however, 63% stated that absence of parents during shift change provided some relief for nurses. Surprisingly, 81% of parents expressed positive feelings about leaving during shift change, stating that shift change provided a break. We conclude that parents and nurses value confidentiality but disagree about the likelihood of breaches. Closed visitation during shift change is a stress reliever for parents and nurses. These data are being used to create a quantitative study that will be included in the presentation.
Learning Objectives: After this session the learner will be able to: 1. Define qualitative research; 2. Identify situations that would be appropriate for qualitative research; 3. Describe differing points of view of nurses and parents in a high stress environment; 4. Recognize the importance of integrating these differing points of view into policy decisions
Keywords: Patient Satisfaction, Policy/Policy Development
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.