Abstract:
Introduction: A neonatal care unit is a place where sick and premature neonates are admitted and receive specialized care. Infants are unable to communicate their wants, experiences, demands, opinions, or satisfaction; therefore, parents play this role for their young children.Parental satisfaction in neonatal care units (NCUs) is a crucial indicator of the quality services provided to the neonates and helps to enhance healthcare delivery.
Aim: To assess the parents’ satisfaction with the care provided to their neonate in the neonatal care unit (NCU) at two selected district hospitals in Rwanda.
Method: To answer the research questions, a descriptive cross-sectional design was used and a random sampling method was applied to select two district hospitals of Kigali city (Muhima District Hospital and Kibagabaga District Hospital) as a study setting. The study population was all parents (mother or father) having their infants hospitalized in NCU at the period of study andparticipants signed consent voluntary. A sample of 261 parents was retrieved from the target population by using convenience non-probability sampling strategy method. Instrument was the neonatal satisfaction survey. With a 95% confidence interval (CI) and P-value under 0.05, descriptive statistics like frequencies, means, medians, and standard deviations as well as inferential statistics like ordered logistic regression were used.
Results: The findings revealed that among 261 study participants, more than a half 171(66%) were satisfied with health care services in neonatal care unit. More than three quarter of respondents197 (75.5%), reported that they were strongly disagree on the care received by same group of doctors/nurses for themselves and their neonates. The nurses’ consideration and care for the neonate, the nurses’ and doctors’ interest in hearing the opinions of parents as next of kin, the nurses’ understanding and respect of parents are an important care and treatment that showed a positive strong relationship with level of satisfaction.
Conclusion: To improve parents’ satisfaction in NCU service emphasis should made on the nurses’ care and treatment as they spend much time with the parents. Therefore continuous training about the parents centered care in NCU should be considered by institution administrators.
