Personalized communication with parents of children born at less than 25 weeks: Moving from doctor-driven to parent-personalized discussions
Communicating with parents facing potential preterm birth is complex, especially when the baby may be born before 25 weeks of gestational age. These babies have a high chance of dying or having serious health problems. Many of them die even after they’re admitted to the Neonatal intensive care (NICU). Experts usually talk about how to communicate with during antenatal consultations, but this review examines communication at different times: before birth, while the baby is in the NICU, and if/when the baby is dying. Parents reports that they need personalization and communication should not follow a one-size-fits-all pattern. Conversations should not be neutral, nor standardized. Instead, doctors should personalize how they talk to each family based on their needs. This means doctors should think about how they communicate and use different methods for different families. Many practical examples on how to optimize communication are given throughout the article, this is the highlight of this article. By doing this, doctors and parents can work together better to make decisions about the baby’s care.