Family Centered Care

1342 Words3 Pages

Applying Family Centered Care to Gestational Diabetes Pregnancy can bring joy, and excitement to a woman and her family. Yet, for some women pregnancy can bring complications resulting in complex birth and sometimes a hospital stay. For these women, family centered care becomes essential to their healing process and ability to become independent with the new baby. This paper will discuss family centered care, the four concepts included in family center care, and impact of being diagnosed with gestational diabetes, including any barriers that the mother and child may experience within family centered care. Family Centered Care Family centered care is a phrase that is used often, but is not always implemented in the best possible way. In …show more content…

When the baby is born it is essentially being cut off from the high maternal sugar levels; this results in an excess amount of insulin in the blood with little amount of glucose, leading to infant hypoglycemia. Furthermore, every infant reacts differently to hypoglycemia, some infants are asymptomatic while others experience lethargy, irritability and sometimes seizures (Antonio Negrato, Mattar, & Gomes, …show more content…

Furthermore, health care professionals need to be aware that families can have a very different views on care, procedures and health care providers need to respect these views in order for family centered care to work. Many people would agree that to treat someone with respect, would be to treat them how you want to be treated. However, dignity is harder to define, although many people know when their dignity is taken away. To treat some with dignity means to promote their self-worth and individuality. When health care professionals respect the family’s decisions and ensure their dignity, families tend to be more satisfied with care and families have increased trust in the health care provider. Family centered care is a balance between patient safety and granting the wishes of the family and patient (Katz, 2012). Within this concept, it is important to include the family in planning and providing care as this helps increase family participation, independence and

Open Document