Scalp IV or Graduation Tassel? Differing Perspectives of the NICU Experience

FAMILY-FRIENDLY/FAMILY-CENTERED care in the NICU contributes to positive patient outcomes, strong families, and excellence in care. Successfully integrating the patient’s family into the care team in the high-tech, high-stress NICU environment can pose many challenges to the nursing staff. A significant obstacle to successful family-professional partnerships is lack of understanding by NICU professionals of parental perspectives of the NICU experience. This column provides unique insight into the differing perspectives of one infant’s family and the NICU staff who cared for him.