Confidence, not competence: Reframing roles to embed FICare

Abstract

This paper summarises and critically discusses the successful implementation of Family Integrated Care (FICare) at two Swedish tertiary neonatal intensive care units (Karolinska and Uppsala). The paper is the culmination of a three-day information-finding trip where we observed Swedish neonatal practice on the units and interviewed a range of key staff members regarding their approaches and values to neonatal care. The key findings were that parents are viewed as knowing their babies best and all neonatal staff work towards the ethos of zero separation. This is achieved through promoting confidence in parents to care for their own babies and the concept that neonatal nurses are there to facilitate instead of ‘do’. We propose recommendations for how we can emulate the resource-independent aspects of this model in the UK.