STAFF VIEWS ON PARENTAL VISITING OF VERY-LOW-BIRTH-WEIGHT INFANTS IN NEONATAL INTENSIVE-CARE UNITS - RESULTS OF A STAFF INQUIRY ACROSS 11 COUNTRIES OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY

As part of a larger European study of parental visiting and involvement in the care of very low birth weight infants in neonatal intensive care units, the results of a selfcompleted anonymous enquiry of 1008 medical/nursing staff of 35 units in 11 European countries are presented. The study demonstrates a general agreement with parental visiting and involvement, with sometimes striking differences in views of staff of different countries, but with little or no differences between medical and nursing staff. Staff with more than seven years experience in neonatal care have a less positive attitude towards parent's presence in the unit. The same holds true for staff of units that have a restricted policy towards parents' visiting, i.e. units which do not have a 24-hours visiting policy for parents.