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Posttraumatic stress symptoms in the pediatric intensive care unit

Wendy Ward-Begnoche1

  • 1Section of Pediatric Psychology, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA. wardbegnochewendyl@uams.edu

Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing : JSPN
|March 21, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Children and parents in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) face risks for posttraumatic stress symptoms. Understanding these risks and protective factors is crucial for care and future research.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric intensive care
  • Trauma psychology
  • Child and adolescent psychiatry

Background:

  • Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) stays pose risks for posttraumatic stress symptoms in children and their parents.
  • Traumatic events can be related to injury, illness, or medical treatments during PICU admission.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the pediatric intensive care unit experience for children and parents.
  • To examine the emerging literature on posttraumatic stress symptoms in PICU patients and their families.
  • To synthesize current knowledge on risk and resiliency factors for pediatric PICU patients.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review
  • Synthesis of existing research
  • Analysis of risk and resiliency factors

Main Results:

  • Children and parents are vulnerable to posttraumatic stress symptoms following PICU admission.
  • Various factors contribute to the risk of developing posttraumatic stress symptoms.
  • Resiliency factors can mitigate the impact of traumatic experiences in the PICU.

Conclusions:

  • Ongoing monitoring for posttraumatic stress disorder is recommended for children during and after PICU hospitalization.
  • Identifying and addressing risk and resiliency factors are essential for clinical practice and future research directions.
Abstract

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