394 - Multi-disciplinary Team Facilitated Education Sessions for Families: Changing NICU Culture and Improving Family Experience

Poster Number: 394
Publication Number: 394.435

Mary-Rose Ballard, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, England, United Kingdom; Bikash Bhojnagarwala, Medway NHS foundation Trust, Orpington, England, United Kingdom

Background: Families are an extension of their new-borns being cared for in NICU, and collaborative partnerships with families are the future. Encouraging and empowering families to participate in care giving tasks has proven to have an impactful and sustainable improvement in neonatal care. A structured multi-disciplinary education plan is critical to knowledge attainment leading to better engagement and support for families.

Objective: To develop a programme of family orientated multi-disciplinary education sessions at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NICU, a UK tertiary level surgical neonatal unit with 36 cots and around 600 admissions per year.

Design/Methods: Questionnaire data from parents and multi-disciplinary focus groups informed an 8-week pilot programme from July 2021, of twice-weekly socially distanced face-to-face sessions. Anonymous feedback from sessions, a pre and post implementation questionnaire for parents, and staff survey were used to evaluate impact. Following the pilot, a structured programme was rolled out with regular evaluation and improvement based on parental attendance and feedback.

Results: Parents completing questionnaires (n=15) had babies born from 24+2 to 34+1 weeks gestation with length of stay 14 to 118 days (mean= 56 days). All families were interested in attending sessions. Individual session feedback was positive (table 1), and following programme implementation, parental knowledge and understanding across topics relating to neonatal care and discharge showed improvement (figure 1). All staff completing the survey (n=18) agreed that this model of collaborative partnership with families can improve neonatal outcomes with 27% changing their opinion following programme implementation. Survey data showed staff perception of parental involvement and confidence at discharge improved (table 2).Conclusion(s): The introduction of multi-disciplinary education sessions resulted in increased knowledge attainment, improved family experience and confidence. The implementation of a collaborative model of care poses challenges, including culture shift in NICU, and requires support and training for staff with regular evaluation and response to feedback. This programme is a positive step in developing collaborative family centred care at this unit.
Table 1Anonymous parent feedback for individual teaching sessions
Table 2Anonymous staff feedback regarding family education sessions