Background: Limited opportunities for parents to care for their critically ill infant after cardiac surgery can lead to parental unpreparedness and distress.
Purpose: This project aimed to create and test a bedside visual tool to increase parent partnership in developmentally supportive infant care after cardiac surgery.
Methods: The Care Partnership Pyramid was created by a multidisciplinary team and incorporated feedback from nurses and parents. Three Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles tested its impact on parent partnership in care. Information about developmentally supportive care provided by parents during each 12-hour shift was extracted from nursing documentation. A staff survey evaluated perceptions of the tool and informed modifications.
Results: Changes in parent partnership during PDSA 1 did not reach statistical significance. Staff perceived that the tool was generally useful for the patient/family but was sometimes overlooked, prompting its inclusion in the daily goals checklist. For PDSA 2 and 3, parents were more often observed participating in rounds, asking appropriate questions, providing environmental comfort, assisting with the daily care routine, and changing diapers.
Implications for practice: Use of a bedside visual tool may lead to increased parent partnership in care for infants after cardiac surgery.
Implications for research: Future projects are needed to examine the impact of bedside care partnership interventions on parent preparedness, family well-being, and infant outcomes.