The assessment of family needs of infants admitted into the neonatal ward at an academic tertiary hospital in Johannesburg

Abstract

Celebrating the birth of a baby is often interrupted when the baby is bom prematurely or with medical conditions warranting admission to the neonatal ward. The admission automatically separates the baby from the family, thus disrupting the infant-parent bonding and shaking attainment of parental role after discharge. This separation exerts pressure and stress on the family, disturbing the family systems equilibrium. The stress experienced by families has been associated with the physical environment of the neonatal ward and the ineffective family-nurse interactions. With increasing demand by consumers for family-centred care in the neonatal ward and with family needs being often overlooked by the intensive care nursing staff, it is evident that family needs in the neonatal ward require further exploration. The purpose of this study was to investigate the needs of families of infants admitted to the neonatal ward. The objectives were to describe needs of families of infants admitted to the neonatal ward as identified by family members and explore and describe similarities and differences in needs of families at point A (0-24 hours of admission) and point B (96- 120 hours of admission). A quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional design was used to achieve the research objectives; non-probability convenience sampling was used to identify 90 respondents (n=90). A quarter (23) and three quarters (67) were recruited from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and High Care Unit (HCU) respectively. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Family Needs Inventory (NFNI) was used for data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. The top three family needs identified by the cohort of family members who responded to the questionnaire were: the need for assurance (91.7%) information (87.5%) and proximity (81.8%). The need for assurance remained the top most priority need throughout the data collection process. Variations existed on how respondents scored the need for information (87.5% vs. 90.9%) and proximity (81.8% vs.75.0%) at point A and point B. There were no statistical significant differences on family needs between the data collection points. From the research findings it was concluded that family needs change over time. Recommendations were drawn based on the research findings.