Promoting Parent Partnership in Developmentally Supportive Care for Infants in the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit

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.