Critical Care Plus
Practice Builds Confidence in Parents
Step-by-Step Teaching Helps
Practice is the best way to build confidence in parents who must care for premature or sick babies, says Nancy Gillilan, BSN, RNCNP, neonatal nurse practitioner and clinical education specialist at Grant/Riverside Methodist Hospitals in Columbus, OH. That is why the physical care needs of the baby must be return-demonstrated several times by parents.
Nurses must constantly gauge whether parents are ready to learn something new in order not to overwhelm them. "You can’t substitute the time spent with the baby practicing the skills. Some couples come in at three in the morning because that fits their schedule," says Connie Remmer, BSN, RNC, clinician care coordinator in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Baptist Children’s Hospital in Miami. If the task at hand seems too difficult, it is best to break the teaching into small increments, she says.
Any tool that can be provided to help with difficult procedures builds confidence, as well. For example, Remmer provides a chart for parents to track medications if the baby is on a complicated medication regimen. "We try to make them feel comfortable by the time they go home because we don’t want to send a baby home with parents who are highly anxious," she says.
To build confidence, staff at Grant/Riverside Methodist Hospitals encourage care by parents day and night. During that time, mother and father care for their baby in a separate room knowing that a nurse is available if they should need help. "We check on them at frequent intervals, and they know that if they need anything at all they can put a light on and we’ll be right there; but it allows them to do some independent caregiving without someone leaning over their shoulder all the time," says Gillilan.
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