Family Centered Care Case Study

The effect of a child’s illness on the family cannot be over emphasized and this must be put in perspective by health care professionals (Shields, Zhou, Pratt, Taylor, Hunter & Pascoe, 2012). The family is an important aspect of healthcare. As far back as the early half of the 20th century, parents and families of hospitalized children were restricted to visiting their sick and hospitalized children and these left the care of these solely on the healthcare professional (Frank, 1952 as cited in Tondi, 2009). Family-centered care in pediatrics is based on the understanding that the family is the child’s primary source of strength and support and that the child’s and family’s perspectives and information are important in clinical decision making

BARRIERS AND SUPPORT TO IMPLEMENTATION

Paliadelis et al, (2005), in their study outlined various barriers to family centered care. In his study, lack of understanding of the concept of family centered care, lack of guidelines and policies and hospital management misunderstanding the presence of family to mean less work for staff. Furthermore, inadequate staff coupled with time constraints which can translates into poor motivation due to work overload was also identified as a barrier to the success of family centered care. In other instances, parents are sometimes not interested in involving themselves in the care of their hospitalized children. Outdated nursing habits can also not be eliminated.

In Ghana, there is little or no knowledge on family centered care and would take a lot of work to overcome these barriers to fully implement Family centered care in the pediatric setting.

CHANGES IF FAMILY CENTERED CARE IS FULLY

Thirdly, advocating for the changing of hospital visiting policies. Currently the visiting policy in my facility is limited to one hour in the morning and another hour in the evening at a specific time. Extending family visiting hours has been found to be very essential for the practice of a successful family centered care. To add to it, working with families in decision making and information sharing in all practice settings taking into account the older child’s and young adult’s capacity for independent decision making and right to privacy and confidentiality.

Finally, parents and guardians will be involved in ward rounds in making decisions for their patients. They would be offered the option of being present with their child during medical procedures and offered support before, during, and after the procedure (Academy, Pediatrics, & Care,