Parent Conferences

[nicunana]

Our NICU is exploring the possibility of regular parent conferences with each of the families in our unit. We would include the Neo, ARNP, Social worker, Family Rep, Discharge nurse, Primary nurse and others as indicated or requested by the family. We are still in the process of hammering out the details & would appreciate your input.

If you are already holding these conferences please share:

When do you hold the 1st conference?

How often do you meet?

Who attends?

Are the conferences well received by the families?

Do you find that they improve communication?

Do you find that they improve parent satisfaction?

Do they provide a smoother discharge?

Who facilitates the meetings?

Who documents them?

If you are not holding these conferences, opinions & suggestions are still very welcome.

Thanks for your help!

Nicunana

[NICU Mama]

Our NICU does this. Every week a meeting is held with the parents and it includes just about everyone you mentioned: neo, RN, SW, lactation consultant, RT, and anyone else who might be invloved in the baby's care. Current issues, plans of care, expectations, parent concerns, etc. are discussed. I think it is well received by the families and improves communication. I believe these meetings are done right from the beginning and continue every week until discharge. I wish I had more information for you about it, but they are always done on days, and I only work nights so I never attend them. Good luck to you in developing your parent conferences.

[Sweeper933]

We also have these meetings held, although they are not on a regular basis. We will get the meeting together when there is a lot going on that we have to discuss with the parents. Docs, RNs, social work, PT/OT, developmental specialists, our discharge coordinator, translators if necessary, the unit manager if needed... whoever is needed in the meeting will attend. Sometimes we have them w/ the parents if their baby is critically ill and there is a lot to tell the parents all at once. We will have them for our chronics to help the discharge process go as smoothly as possible (we also have separate long-term-care meetings w/ staff only...). We find that they do help quite a bit. It's a lot easier to get the parents to understand exactly what is going on when you can present all of the information from the different areas of health care all at once. Social work will usually write a big long note in the baby's chart about what went on in the meeting, and the docs and RNs will also mention it in their notes as well.

Hope this helped!

[wjf00]

We had parent conferences in our unit. But then the Neo's started retreating to thier offices and leaving the parents out of it. The nurses in our unit protested on the grounds the conferences were for THE PARENTS. ... guess who won