Needs of Family with Hospitalized Infant in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Comparison between Mothers’ and Nurses’ Viewpoint

Medical conditions required intensive care usually occur suddenly. Hospitalization of a family member in these wards is a stressful event for all members of family and causes new immediate needs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the needs of family members with a child hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit from the perspective of mothers and nurses working in these wards.

This descriptive analytical study was conducted in 2017. A total of 24 NICU nurses of Hazrate Masoume hospital, were studied using census method and 38 mothers that had a hospitalized child were studied by random method. In this study, 42-item version of Critical Care Family Needs Inventory (CCFNI) was used to assess the family needs. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistical tests and independent t-test.

From the mothers’ point of view (97.6 percent) most of the needs on the CCFNI were rated as very important (mean > 3) and from the nurses' viewpoint, 59.5% of the family's needs were very important. The mean score of the importance degrees of importance of total needs among NICU nurses, were lower than mothers, and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05).

The findings of this research revealed that family members, specially mothers have specific identifiable needs. The gap between mothers’ and nurses’ viewpoints on family needs is significant and this finding could provide proper insight in nurses working in NICUs to meet the family need.