Communication and Decision Making in Neonatal Intensive Care: Why Narrative Medicine Matters.

• Autor(a) principal: Carvalho, Carmen
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Vale, Ana, Magalhães, Susana
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10437/13732
• topic: MEDICINA; COMUNICAÇÃO; TOMADA DE DECISÃO; CUIDADOS INTENSIVOS NEONATAIS; CUIDADOS INTENSIVOS; MEDICINE; COMMUNICATION; DECISION MAKING; NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE; INTENSIVE CARE

Objective: This paper aims to analyse parents’ and health professionals’ discourse, regarding four main areas: (1) the experience of care; (2) communication among all stakeholders; (3) ethical issues; (4) and ethical decision-making. Methodology: The authors collected 62 narratives from health professionals and parents whose newborns have been hospitalized for at least 15 days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). We carried out a qualitative content analysis with the support of NVivo software version 12 Pro. Results: The feelings/emotions are present in a high percentage of narratives (mostly negative ones). Parents´ learning emphasizes coping strategies. Most narratives focus on communicational aspects. Decision-making is referred to in almost half of the narratives. The ethical issues and questions mentioned are mainly related to decision-making. Conclusion: The present study emphasizes narrative relevance in the alignment of parents´ and health professionals´ perspectives to promote therapeutic relationships.