Parents call for concerned and collaborative care

Parents' perceptions and expectations of health care providers within the c ontext of the pediatric lung transplant experience were investigated using a phenomenological approach. Fifteen parents of 12 children were interviewe d Two theme clusters, concerned care and collaborative care, were formulate d. Themes that reflected parents' perceptions of concerned care included: b eing treated as an individual, seeing familiar faces, feeling that their ch ildren really mattered and conversely, experiencing a feeling of abandonmen t. Parents' perceptions of collaborative care included: being part of the t eam, and conversely, feeling caught in the middle. The theme cluster concer ned care, reflected the value parents place on continuity of care. Humanist ic nursing theory provided the link between study results and nursing pract ice.