Healthcare assistants in the children's intensive care unit

Recruiting and retaining qualified nurses for children's intensive care units is becoming more difficult because of falling numbers of recruits into the child branch and inadequate educational planning and provision. Meeting the staffing challenge and maintaining the quality of children's intensive care services requires flexible and creative approaches, including considered evolution of the role of healthcare assistants. Evidence from adult services indicates that the addition of healthcare assistants to the intensive care team can benefit patient care. The evolution of the healthcare assistant role to support provision of safe, effective care in the children's intensive care setting requires a comprehensive strategy to ensure that appropriate education, training and supervision are in place. Career development pathways need to be in place and role accountability clearly defined at the different stages of the pathway. Experience in one unit in Glasgow suggests that healthcare assistants make a valuable contribution to the care of critically ill children and young people.