• J Palliat Med · Feb 2015

    Randomized Controlled Trial

    Communication intervention in the neonatal intensive care unit: can it backfire?

    • Jessica P Clarke-Pounder, Renee D Boss, Debra L Roter, Nancy Hutton, Susan Larson, and Pamela K Donohue.
    • 1 Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine , Baltimore, Maryland.
    • J Palliat Med. 2015 Feb 1;18(2):157-61.

    BackgroundFor parents of a critically ill infant, good communication may help alleviate stress and anxiety. To improve communication, physicians must be responsive to families' needs and values surrounding the care of their hospitalized infant.ObjectiveWe adapted a Decision-Making Tool for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (N-DMT) to encourage consideration of family concerns and preferences in daily care planning.DesignThis was a randomized controlled design.Setting/SubjectsParents and providers of critically ill neonates were eligible. Parents were randomized to an intervention group (using the N-DMT) or standard of care. N-DMT information was shared through the electronic medical record and communicated directly to the primary provider.MeasurementsDaily rounds on all infants were audio recorded. Parents completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory at the first interview and 2 weeks later. Parents completed the Family Inventory of Needs-Pediatrics (FIN-PED) survey and an N-DMT-specific survey 2 weeks postenrollment.ResultsComplete data were obtained on 10 control and 9 intervention families. Groups did not differ on demographics or mean infant Score of Neonatal Acute Physiology (SNAP) scores (36 versus 37). FIN-PED scores were similar for both groups. The control group showed decreased anxiety over time. The content of rounds did not differ between groups. The intervention group reported lower satisfaction with care, specifically in questions regarding communication.ConclusionsIn this pilot study, we found that families in the intervention group were less satisfied with communication. Families who are primed to expect better communication, such as those participating in a communication intervention, may be less satisfied with standard care.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

Want more great medical articles?

Keep up to date with a free trial of metajournal, personalized for your practice.
1,706,642 articles already indexed!

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.