In the FICare Toolkit, you will find a wealth of resources to enable you to fully implement FICare in your unit. The Toolkit is intended to guide you through the early stages of implementation (e.g, planning and self-assessment resources), provide resources for staff training, and offer a wealth of parent education materials. We encourage you to adapt these resources to fit your needs.
FICARE TOOLKIT
Planning & Engagement
In order to move forward in the implementation of FICare, the first steps involve assessing the current policies, practices, and culture in your particular unit. Tools for assessing and planning are found below.
Veteran parents play a valuable role in all aspects of FICare development, including committee membership, peer-to-peer support, and leading parent education sessions. The tools in the section provide resources for those interested in becoming a veteran parent.
Training Resources
Training Materials for staff, to engage veteran parents in different roles
Resources for veteran parents
Presentations by veteran parents to nursing staff
Program Development
The tools included in this section will allow you to establish and maintain FICare in your unit, and are designed to fulfill the 4 pillars of FICare. Any NICU can incorporate aspects of each pillar, regardless of size. Use the resources that work with your particular unit; as always, flexibility and creativity are encouraged.
Preparing education
Delivering education
Online education modules
Rounds:
- Description of Rounds (Dr. Karel O’Brien)
FICare and Nursing Videos:
- Challenges for Nurses in adopting FICare (Cathy Travell, RN)
- The Nurse-Parent Relationship (Cathy Travell, RN and Candice Mullings)
- Sustaining FICare by supporting parents (Cathy Travell, RN)
- Transition to Home (Cathy Travell, RN)
- Description of a parent’s experience, told by a nurse (Cathy Travell, RN)
Additional staff resources
- FICare Pocket Guide (docx)
- Parent and Nursing Responsibilities (docx)
- Rounding Guide for including parents in rounds (doc)
- Parent Skills Checklist (doc)
- Parent Admission Checklist (doc)
- Support 4 NICU Parents (For Professionals) (link) – This site provides resources for NICU staff to provide comprehensive support for families
- FICare Pocket Guide (docx)
Preparing education sessions
- Educational Philosophy for Parents (docx)
- Adult Learning Principles (docx)
- Strategies for Teaching (docx)
- Parent Education General Principles and Lessons Learned (docx)
Delivering education sessions
- Developing Parent Education Sessions (docx)
- Sample Parent Education Lesson Plans: Overview (docx)
- Sample Parent Education Lesson Plans (docx)
Resources for parents
- Sample NICU Parent Info Binder (pdf)
- Sample Parent Orientation Pamphlet (pdf)
- Parent Day at a Glance (pdf)
- Parent Journal (pdf)
- Parent’s My Care Plan (docx)
- Parent Flow Sheet (doc)
- Parent Skill Checklist (doc)
- Parent Rounding Card (doc)
- Baby Steps to Discharge (pdf)
- Baby Steps to Discharge (variation) (pdf)
- Sample of Discharge Information for Parents (ppt)
Additional resources
Sustaining FiCare
FICare is sustained through ongoing attention to all aspects of program implementation. Indicators of FICare success need to be reviewed regularly, achievements celebrated, and staff efforts encouraged and acknowledged.
- National Health Service (NHS): Implementing the Recommendations of the Neonatal Critical Care Transformation Review
- British Association of Perinatal Medicine Framework for Practice
- NHS: Integrated Family Delivered Neonatal Care Care Bundle
- NHS: Neonatal Critical Care Review – Enhancing the Experience for Families
- NHS: UK Family Integrated Care
- Institute for Patient and Family Centered Care
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Videos
These videos were developed to help educate viewers about FICare, and to provide additional training materials for sites interested in implementing FICare.
- Welcome message (Dr. Shoo Lee)
- About FICare (Dr. Karel O’Brien)
- About FICare (Cathy Travell, RN)
- Four Pillars of FICare (Dr. Karel O’Brien)
- Importance of Staff Training (Dr. Karel O’Brien)
- Parents as Partners in Care (Dr. Karel O’Brien)
- Peer-to-Peer Support and Veteran Parents (Dr. Karel O’Brien)
- Description of Rounds (Dr. Karel O’Brien)
- Challenges for Nurses in adopting FICare (Cathy Travell, RN)
- The Nurse-Parent Relationship (Cathy Travell, RN and Candice Mullings)
- Transition to Home (Cathy Travell, RN)
- Importance of Parent Education Sessions (Marianne Bracht, RN)
- Parent Education Strategies (Marianne Bracht, RN)
- Leading Parent Groups (Marianne Bracht, RN)
- How Sunnybrook implements Parent Education (Cathy Travell, RN)
- Participating in rounds (Daniela LaFace)
- Participating in rounds (Candice Mullings)
- Participating in care (Daniela LaFace)
- Benefits of participating in care (Candice Mullings)
- Benefits of Parent Education (Candice Mullings)
- Value of using the Parent Binder (Daniela LaFace)
- Experience as a Veteran Parent (Daniela LaFace)
- Value of connecting with a Veteran Parent (Candice Mullings)
- Value of peer support (Candice Mullings)
- FICare is for every type of parent (Daniela LaFace)
- FICare supports parent-child bonding (Daniela LaFace)
- How FICare helps parents become better advocates (Daniela LaFace)
- Presentation by NICU veteran parent (Lori O’Leary)
- Presentation by FICare veteran parent (Fabiana Bacchini)
- Presentation by FICare veteran parent (Don Reilly)
- Description of a parent’s experience, told by a nurse (Cathy Travell, RN)
- A parent describes her NICU experience (Daniela LaFace)
Links
These links and resources are provided to support learning for staff and parents.
- American Academy of Pediatrics Breastfeeding information
- Canadian Paediatric Society
- Family presence during a pandemic: guidance for decision making (PDF)
- van Veenendaal NR, Deierl A, Bacchini F, O’Brien K, Franck LS. Supporting parents as essential care partners in neonatal units during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Acta Paediatr. 2021;110:2008-2022.
- Position Statement on Parental Presence in the Neonatal Units During SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic
- Canadian Premature Babies Foundation – “Our Purpose is to prevent preterm birth through education and research, and support the best standards of care for premature babies.”
- Bliss – “…working to provide the best possible care and support for all premature and sick babies and their families.”
- Life with a Preterm Baby – This is a program for families of preterm infants and will serve as a support network following discharge as families transition from the NICU to their first months at home
- Miracle Babies provide an invaluable resource and support service for mums and families of premature babies.
- EFCNI European Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants
- NICU Parent Network – A Collaborative of NICU Support Organizations led by NICU Parent Professionals
- Interdisciplinary Recommendations for the Psychosocial Support of NICU Parents – Journal of Perinatology 35, issue 12, December 2015
- Comforting Your Baby In Intensive Care by Professor Linda Franck – A booklet written for parents to help them learn about infant pain and the important role parents can play, in partnership with the health care team, to keep their baby comfortable during intensive care
- NICU Parent Education Resources. To help you and your NICU team talk to parents about their newborns’ conditions and treatments
- Developmental Care of Newborns & Infants, 3rd Edition – Developmental Care of Newborns and Infants offers evidence-based guidelines for interdisciplinary, developmentally supportive caregiving for infants and their families, beginning with contemplation of the birth and continuing through the delivery room and neonatal intensive care unit experiences, the transition to home, and the time following discharge.
- Transformative Nursing in the NICU – introduces new, evidence-based care protocols proven to mitigate or reduce the profound morbidities and subsequent developmental challenges that afflict newborns in the NICU.
- Recommendations for involving the family in developmental care of the NICU baby.
Craig JW, Glick C, Phillips R, Hall SL, Smith J, Browne J. J Perinatol. 2015 Dec;35 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):S5-8. doi: 10.1038/jp.2015.142. PMID: 26597804 Free PMC article. Review. - Individualised developmental care for babies and parents in the NICU: Evidence-based best practice guideline recommendations.
Griffiths N, Spence K, Loughran-Fowlds A, Westrup B. Early Hum Dev. 2019 Dec;139:104840. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2019.104840. Epub 2019 Aug 21. PMID: 31445697 - Individualized Developmental Care in the NICU: A Concept Analysis.
Macho P. Adv Neonatal Care. 2017 Jun;17(3):162-174. doi: 10.1097/ANC.0000000000000374. PMID: 28030365 Review. - Parent participation in the neonatal intensive care unit: Predictors and relationships to neurobehavior and developmental outcomes.
Pineda R, Bender J, Hall B, Shabosky L, Annecca A, Smith J. Early Hum Dev. 2018 Feb;117:32-38. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2017.12.008. Epub 2017 Dec 21. PMID: 29275070 Free PMC article.
- Preemie Care: A GUIDE to Navigating the first year with your Premature Baby, Karen Lasby and Tammy Sherrow
- Gibbins Sharyn RN/PhD, Hoath Steven B MD, Coughlin Mary RN/MS, Gibbins Alan and Franck Linda RN/PhD. The Universe of Developmental Care: A New Conceptual Model for Application in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Foundations in Newborn Care. 8(3): 141-147.
- Coughlin Mary RN/MS, Lohman Mary Beth OTR/BCP and Gibbins Sharyn RN/PhD.
- Reliability and Effectiveness of an Infant Positioning Assessment Tool to Standardize – Developmentally Supportive Positioning Practices in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews. 2010. 10(2): 104-106.
- Coughlin Mary, Gibbins Sharyn and Hoath Steven. Core measures for developmentally supportive care in neonatal intensive care units: theory, precedence and practice. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 2009. 65(10): 2239-2248
- Quraishy Karyn MSPT/CEMI/CST, Bowles Susan M DNP/RNC-NIC and Moore James PhD/PT/PCS. A Protocol for Swaddled Bathing in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Newborn and Infant Nursing Review. 13: 48-50.
- Coughlin Mary RN/MS, Lohman Mary Beth OTR/BCP and Gibbins Sharyn RN/PhD. Reliability and Effectiveness of an Infant Positioning Assessment Tool to Standardize Developmentally Supportive Positioning Practices in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews. 10(2): 104-106.
- Altimier Leslie RN/MSN/DNPc/NEA-BC and Phillips Raylene M MD/MA/IBCLC/FAAP. The Neonatal Integrative Developmental Care Model: Seven Neuroprotective Core Measures for Family-Centered Developmental Care. Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews. 13: 9-22.
- Bracht et al. 2013 – FICare parent education
- Galarza-Winton et al. 2013 – FICare nursing education
- Jiang et al. 2014 – Parents as practitioners in preterm care
- Lee and O’Brien 2014 – Parents as primary caregivers in the NICU
- Macdonell et al. 2013 – Engaging veteran parents in FICare
- O’Brien et al. 2013 – FICare pilot study
- Warre et al. 2014 – Parents as the primary caregivers for their infants in the NICU
- O’Brien et al. 2015 – Cluster Randomized Control Trial in Canada and Australia