Introduction
critically ill, pain
CRITICALLY ILL
Parents provide essential caregiving support for preterm infants admitted to neonatal intensive care units (NICU) to promote infant growth and development, including breastfeeding, skin-to-skin contact, developmentally supportive care, positive sensory stimulation, pain management and massage [Family-Integrated Care (FICare) is a parent-partnered NICU care delivery model that provides well-defined yet flexible protocols for ensuring meaningful participation of parents in all aspects of NICU caregiving, from an individual infant’s bedside to the hospital boardroom. FICare has four main pillars: NICU environment, NICU team education and support, parent education, and parent support [The United States (US) healthcare and social contexts are different than in other countries and these differences may affect NICU implementation of FCC and FICare and parental uptake of supportive services. For example, most countries provide more generous perinatal leave benefits and more generous extended leave benefits if a child is critically ill than the US [