The opinions and expectations of nurses, physicians and parents on the participation of parents in the care of the hospitalized child

This study was a descriptive sectional study to determine the opinions and expectations of the nurses, physicians and parents on the participation of parents in the care of the hospitalized child. The study took place between March 22 and May 22, 2010 at the pediatrics and intensive care units of a university hospital and a Ministry of Health children's hospital both located at Ankara city center. No sample selection was performed for the study and the sample consisted of 78 nurses, 45 physicians and 76 parents.The study data were collected using the ?Family-centered Care Survey AMB-A? and questionnaires (A and B) prepared to determine some descriptive characteristics of healthcare staff and the parents.The data obtained from the study were analyzed and evaluated using the frequency table, percentage distribution, Independent Sample t-test, One-Way Anova, chi-square and t-test on the SPSS 13.0 software.The three main activities that the nurses felt the parents should undertake to meet the requirements of their inpatient child were staying with the child in the playroom, changing his/her clothes and making him/her comfortable/calming the child. The three activities found appropriate by the physicians were holding the child during the physician's examination, staying with the child during x-rays and staying with the child in the playroom. The three main activities found appropriate by the parents in meeting the child inpatient's requirements were feeding the child/baby, changing diapers and making the child comfortable/calming the child.The parents stated that they wanted a place to sleep to be provided for them, for it to be possible to stay with their child or to visit or be together with the child more often and for the healthcare staff to pay more attention to them. Recommendations are provided to support parent participation in the hospitalized child's care according to the results of the study.Keywords: Family-centered care, parent participation, hospitalized child