Parents and technology in the inpatient pediatric setting: a beginning model for study

Medical technology has an increasing presence in the pediatric general care unit (GCU) and is an important tool in the provision of nursing care to children. As a result, both nurses and parents or other patient caregivers have had to integrate medical technology into their roles in the GCU setting. For nurses, this integration of technology into their workflow may be less stressful because new technologies are seen as additional resources to be used to provide proficient, safe patient care. Parents and other caregivers, however, may be more challenged by the sudden presence of technology in their caregiver role. Despite the increased presence of technology in the GCU, the impact of medical technology on nurse-parent-child relationships has not been explicitly researched. A descriptive review of the literature addresses some of the elements in these relationships and nursing care. A theoretical model of the influence of technology on the nurse-parent-child relationship is proposed, and suggestions for future research are made.