Parents’ Views on Prolonged Maternal Hospital Stay With Sick Newborn Infants in a Tertiary Neonatal Unit in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Background: Mothers of infants in most Sri Lankan neonatal units are required to be “inpatients” during the entirety of their infant’s stay. This traditional practice is closely aligned to the relatively newer model of family-integrated care. Purpose: Exploration of parent’s views regarding the expectation for mothers to remain in hospital for the entire duration of their infant’s neonatal unit stay. Methods: Cross-sectional study of parents of infants admitted to the University neonatal unit of Colombo North Teaching Hospital, Ragama, Sri Lanka, using self-administered questionnaires in 2017. Results: We found that 40% (19/48) of mothers and 43% (16/37) of fathers preferred that mothers traveled from home, rather than being inpatients continuously, in order to care for older children, receive psychological support from family, and also due to other practical inconveniences of living in the hospital. The main barriers to women being able to travel from home were the need to safely provide expressed human milk for their hospitalized infants and current hospital administrative and societal attitudes. Implications for Practice and Research: We found that a considerable number of parents with infants in the neonatal intensive care unit in Sri Lanka would like the option of the mother being able travel from home, rather than being confined to hospital. To facilitate this option, changes in hospital protocols and further research into storage and transportation of expressed mother’s milk will be required. Improving facilities in hospital and providing more opportunities for families to interact with infants in neonatal intensive care unit will encourage mothers to remain in hospital continuously.