NICU Bereavement Care and Follow-up Support for Families and Staff.

Background: Experiencing the death of an infant in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) affects both families and staff, creating challenges and opportunities for best practices.

Purpose: This practice-based article describes a comprehensive approach to delivering bereavement services to NICU families, as well as education and support to NICU staff.

Methods: Bereaved NICU parent and staff survey feedback, including quotes describing individual experiences and suggestions for improved service delivery.

NICU parent-to-parent partnerships: a comprehensive approach.

Parents of newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) find themselves in a world of unknown medical terminology, advanced technology, and the realization that their dream of a healthy baby has been shattered. The unique partnership with trained parent-to-parent volunteers, who have had previous NICU experiences, enhances professional support and helps new NICU parents adjust to these unexpected challenges. This practice-based article describes the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital NICU Parent-to-Parent Partnership's (PPP) 40-year commitment to the parent-to-parent philosophy and its comprehensive approach to delivering trained volunteer PPP services to NICU families.

Support for siblings of NICU patients: an interdisciplinary approach.

Siblings of hospitalized newborns in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) experience unique thoughts and feelings in response to this situational crisis. Providing an opportunity for siblings and their parents to address both of their concerns can improve sibling adjustment to the NICU, and is also consistent with a family-centered care philosophy. This article traces the development and evolution of sibling policy and program changes at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital (HDVCH) NICU, and describes the current comprehensive model for inclusion of siblings.