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Family-Centered Care in Neonatal Intensive Care Units: Combining Intensive Care and Family Support

2017; University of Occupational and Environmental Health Japan; Volume: 39; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.7888/juoeh.39.235

2187-2864

Shunsuke Araki, Tomoko Saito, Saori Ichikawa, Kaori Saito, Tsuzumi TAKADA, Satoko Noguchi, Miki Yamada, Fumi Nakagawa,

Family and Patient Care in Intensive Care Units

Advances in treatment in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) for preterm and sick newborns have improved the mortality rate of patients, but admission to the NICU may disrupt parent-infant interaction, with adverse consequences for infants and their families because of physical, psychological, and emotional separation. The concept of family centered care (FCC), in which family members are part of the care team and infants are close to the family, is important and has become popular in NICU. In 2013, we created a team called "Kodomo-Kazoku Mannaka" to promote FCC in Japan, and visited the NICU at Uppsala University Hospital in Sweden, which is internationally famous for FCC. Since this fruitful visit, we have been promoting FCC in Japan by exhibitions and presentations of the FCC ideas at academic conferences and using internet services. A questionnaire survey conducted in 2015 revealed that the importance and the benefits of FCC in NICU are recognized, although there are some barriers to FCC in each facility. It is hard to change facilities and social systems right away, but it is easier and more important to change people's minds. Our role is to spread the concept of FCC and to help each facility find its own way to adopt it. We will continue to make efforts encourage to promote FCC in Japan.