Alliance for Family Integrated Care Implementation in Neonatal Intensive Care Units

The Family Integrated Care (FICare) programme has been developed in a multicenter cluster randomised controlled trial, with 26 tertiary NICUs from Canada, Australia and New Zealand, comparing standard NICU care (which was mainly care by nurses) (891 infants) to FICare programme (895 infants). FICare model and showed that the involvement of parents in the direct care improved weight gain and increased breastfeeding rates in the preterm infants. In addition, their parents had lower rates of stress and anxiety. These results were confirmed in a cluster-randomised controlled trial. Subsequent studies carried out so far have shown promising positive effects on a variety of domains. Maturation profiles have been shown to accelerate with the FICare intervention as a shorter time to achieve exclusive enteral nutrition as well as oral nutrition has been shown in the preterm infants included in FICARE programmes compared to control babies