An Investigation to the Palliative Care Requirements in Neonatal Intensive Care Units from the Perspective of Care Providers

Background: The need for palliative care has been realized for decades. To establish such a system in Iran, proper investigation and grounding of administration requirements are necessary. Aim: To determine the current requirements for implementing this program at the level of neonatal intensive care units in selected hospitals affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Methods:In this study, a questionnaire was completed to assess the implementation requirements of palliative care program and standards in the neonatal intensive care units at three levels of family-related factors, managerial factors and human resources.Then, the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics in SPSS v21.0. Results: The results showed that in Mofid and Mahdieh hospitals, proper implementation of this program requires improvements in family-related factors, but in the case of human resources and management factors, there is no need to implement this program. Based on the scores obtained in Imam Hussein Hospital, the required backgrounds to implement this program were absent in all three dimensions. Conclusion:In order to implement the palliative care program in neonatal intensive care units in the hospitals affiliated to ShahidBeheshti University, it is necessary to prepare the preliminary arrangements regarding both human and managerial factors, and to improve the existing conditions in the family-related factors.