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Emergent admission to the pediatric intensive care unit: parental concerns
Insights
Parents
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Intensive Care
- Parental Mental Health
- Childhood Critical Illness
Background:
- Sudden admission to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) can be a distressing experience for parents.
- Understanding parental concerns is crucial for providing effective support during a child's critical illness.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify and assess the primary concerns of parents whose children are admitted to the PICU.
- To examine how these concerns evolve from admission to a later time point.
Main Methods:
- Structured interviews were conducted with 17 parents of 10 critically ill children.
- The Parental Concerns Scale was utilized to quantify concerns at two time points: around admission and 20–36 hours post-admission.
Main Results:
- The most significant parental concerns included the child's survival, potential long-term impairment, diagnosis, and pain level.
- Overall parental concern scores decreased over time, particularly when the child's prognosis was favorable or in cases of infectious illness (for mothers).
Conclusions:
- Parental concerns in the PICU setting are multifaceted, focusing on immediate threats and future outcomes.
- Nursing interventions should address parental fears regarding survival, impairment, diagnosis, and pain management to improve family-centered care.
Abstract:
To identify parental concerns when a child is suddenly admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit, 17 parents of ten critically ill children were interviewed using a structured format between 20 and 36 hours after admission about their concerns around the time of admission and at the time of interview using the Parental Concerns Scale. The individual concern items receiving the highest ratings were the child's survival, the possibility of mental or physical impairment, the child's diagnosis, and the amount of pain experienced by the child. Total concern scores decreased over time for both mothers and fathers when the child's prognosis was good and, for mothers only, when the child had an infectious illness rather than accidental injuries. Implications for nursing practice are discussed.