Abstract:
Aim: The aim was to explore and describe the experiences of nurses working in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in a South African context regarding family integrated care.
Background: Family integrated care in the NICU has taken family centred care a step further by empowering parents to become the primary caregivers of their infants while their infants are still admitted in the hospital. Advantages demonstrated thus far include: improvement in weight gain of infants, reduction in neonatal infections, improved breastfeeding on discharge, reduction in length of stay in the NICU, reduction in staff utilization, improved bonding and attachment and less parental stress. Despite positive findings from research undertaken by a Canadian healthcare team of the multiple advantages that family integrated care provides for infants and their families, this practise is still new in the South African neonatal context. Family integrated care has been introduced in a particular NICU in a hospital in Northern Cape Province, South Africa. Nurses working in the NICU at this hospital are the facilitators of family integrated care and play a key role in the implementation thereof. However, the researcher observed mixed responses from nurses regarding the implementation of family integrated care, and little is known about the nurses’ perceptions of those experiences.
Design and method: A qualitative, interpretivist approach was followed to explore and describe the experiences of the nurses working in a particular NICU regarding family integrated care in that unit. The population of this study was the nurses who worked in the particular NICU. Purposive sampling was used to invite participants to take part in the study. Data was gathered using two focus group interviews, each consisting of four to eight participants. The focus groups were transcribed and analysed by means of qualitative content analysis.
Findings: The findings of the study lead to a better understanding of the experiences of nurses working in an NICU in South Africa regarding the implementation of family integrated care. Knowledge of their experiences might contribute to and influence the maintenance of family integrated care in the study’s NICU, as well as support the successful implementation of the phenomenon in other South African NICUs. Furthermore, the study suggests that the implementation of family integrated care in NICUs is expected to contribute to bonding and attachment, improved long-term relationships, development of psychosocial skills, and to prevent feelings of neglect and abandonment in the infant.
Conclusion: The experiences of the nurses regarding family integrated care included their perceptions of the advantages of family integrated care to mothers, infants and families. Additionally, the challenges they experienced during the implementation process, and suggestions for improving the sustainability of family integrated care in the NICU were discussed.
