Children visit to intensive care unit

Area of Science:

• Pediatric critical care
• Child psychology
• Healthcare ethics

Background:

• Hospitals typically restrict visits by children under 12 to adult intensive care units (ICUs).
• Younger children express a desire to visit hospitalized family members.
• Managing these visits presents challenges for healthcare teams regarding psychological safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review literature on children's cognitive and emotional development concerning death.
• To inform the development of guidelines for pediatric visits to adult ICUs.
• To support and expand the practice of allowing younger children to visit relatives in ICUs.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive literature review was conducted.
• Analysis focused on developmental psychology and understanding of death in children.
• Synthesized findings to propose a structured visitation routine.

Main Results:

• Children's developmental stages significantly influence their understanding of illness and death.
• Existing hospital policies often exclude younger children from visiting ICU patients.
• A need exists for evidence-based guidelines to facilitate safe and beneficial visits.

Conclusions:

• A proposed routine can enable younger children to visit adult ICU patients.
• This routine aims to mitigate psychological harm by considering developmental factors.
• Implementing such guidelines can improve family-centered care in critical care settings.