Experiences of NICU healthcare workers serving a high-risk population in a border community in Hidalgo County, Texas

TL;DR

This study explores how healthcare workers in a Texas border NICU serve a high-risk, mostly Hispanic population, emphasizing cultural and language alignment.

Contribution

The paper highlights unique non-clinical factors contributing to successful care in a border community NICU.

Findings

Language and cultural concordance between providers and families were seen as crucial for effective care.

Staff consistency was identified as a key theme in maintaining successful patient outcomes.

Non-clinical features of the NICU may be replicable in other similar institutions.

Abstract

Hidalgo County, Texas, located on the U.S.-Mexico border, is home to over 850 000 residents. Approximately 90% are Hispanic and 25% are foreign-born. Located here is the 65-bed level III neonatal intensive care unit at Doctor’s Hospital at Renaissance. This study aims to describe aspects of this unit that are unique and may have contributed to its success in serving a high-risk population.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a variety of providers. The interviews were transcribed and qualitatively coded, and emergent themes were analyzed.

Thirty-four providers consisting of twenty nurses, three physicians, and eleven others participated. Emergent themes included the perceived importance of language and cultural concordance between patient families and providers and staff consistency.

The non-clinical features of this unit reported on by its providers are deserving of additional research that clarifies their clinical effects and replicability at other institutions serving similar populations.

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