Improving Communication with Parents in the NICU during the COVID-19 Pandemic, a Study and Review of the Literature

Arieh Riskin; Shlomit Shlezinger; Lital Yonai; Frida Mor; Limor Partom; Elinor Monacis-Winkler; Keren Odler; Maria Goroshko; Ayala Gover

doi:10.3390/children9111739

Improving Communication with Parents in the NICU during the COVID-19 Pandemic, a Study and Review of the Literature

Children (Basel). 2022 Nov 11;9(11):1739. doi: 10.3390/children9111739.

Authors

Arieh Riskin^{1

2}, Shlomit Shlezinger³, Lital Yonai¹, Frida Mor¹, Limor Partom¹, Elinor Monacis-Winkler¹, Keren Odler¹, Maria Goroshko¹, Ayala Gover^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neonatology, Bnai Zion Medical Center, 47 Golomb Street, P.O. Box 4940, Haifa 31048, Israel.
² Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4940, Haifa 32000, Israel.
³ Department of Pediatrics, Bnai Zion Medical Center, 47 Golomb Street, P.O. Box 4940, Haifa 31048, Israel.

Abstract

Background: Communication with parents of sick premature and term infants in the NICU is complicated and challenging. Multiple efforts have been made to improve it, including the introduction of new electronic-based measures.

Aim: We aimed to study the influence of implementation of a new communication technology on parents' satisfaction with care in the NICU during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Infants were video-recorded in their incubators or cots without being disturbed. These short films, with voice updates on the infant's condition, were sent on a daily basis to their parents via a WhatsApp application.

Results: Parents who chose to join the new communication project (study group) were older, and their infants were more premature. Parents were satisfied with this new communication modality. Satisfaction scores in both study and control groups were high, but not significantly different.

Conclusions: Although the implementation of the new communication project was successful, we could not demonstrate significant improvement in satisfaction scores that were high in study and control groups, reflecting baseline high satisfaction. Further studies are needed employing other assessment tools in order to evaluate other aspects of parents' satisfaction with new modalities of communication introduced to the NICU, and their effects on parents' bonding with their infants.

Keywords: NICU; communication; parents; satisfaction; technology.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.