A Comparison of Parent Satisfaction in an Open-Bay and Single-Family Room Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Objective:The purpose of this research was to test the hypothesis that parental satisfaction with neonatal intensive care is greater in a single-family room facility as compared with a conventional open-bay neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).Methods:This investigation was a prospective cohort study comparing satisfaction survey results for parents who responded to a commercially available parent NICU satisfaction survey following the provision of NICU care in open-bay and single-family room facilities. A subset of 16 items indicative of family-centered care was also computed and compared for these two NICU facilities.Results:Parents whose babies received care in the single-family room facility expressed significantly improved survey responses in regard to the NICU environment, overall assessment of care, and total survey score than did parents of neonates in the open-bay facility. With the exception of the section on nursing in which scores in both facilities were high, nonsignificant improvement in medi...