Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 27, 2026

Monitoring Lung Function with Electrical Impedance Tomography in the Intensive Care Unit
05:56

Monitoring Lung Function with Electrical Impedance Tomography in the Intensive Care Unit

Published on: September 6, 2024

6.2K

Grief reactions and coping strategies of trainee doctors working in paediatric intensive care

Robert Ffrench-O'Carroll1, Tara Feeley1, Suzanne Crowe1

  • 1Anaesthetic Department, Our Lady's Children's Hospital Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland.

British Journal of Anaesthesia
|March 28, 2019
PubMed

Insights

Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) trainee doctors experience significant emotional distress and grief following a child's death. They reported limited coping strategies and a need for enhanced professional support and debriefing.

Area of Science:

  • Medical Education
  • Pediatric Critical Care
  • Psychological Impact of Patient Death

Background:

  • Child mortality in pediatric intensive care units (PICU) can profoundly affect physicians.
  • Trainee doctors in PICU settings are particularly susceptible to the emotional toll of patient death.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the emotional impact and grief experienced by PICU trainee doctors after a child's death.
  • To identify coping mechanisms employed by these trainees.
  • To explore the need for professional support and debriefing.

Main Methods:

  • A prospective, cross-sectional, observational study utilizing anonymized written questionnaires.
  • Assessment of grief severity using the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief.
  • Evaluation of emotional impact with the Impact of Event Scale and coping strategies via the BriefCOPE tool.

Main Results:

  • A subset of trainee doctors (7% severe grief, 18% severely affected) experienced significant emotional reactions.
  • Common themes included sadness, helplessness, guilt, shock, and concern for families.
  • Talking with peers was the primary coping strategy; requests for formal debriefing and psychological support were frequent.

Conclusions:

  • Pediatric deaths trigger substantial grief and emotional responses in PICU trainees.
  • Trainee doctors identified a deficit in professional support and structured debriefing processes.
Abstract

Keywords:
adaptationattitude to deathcopinggriefintensive care unitspaediatricpost-traumatic stress disorder

More Related Videos

Observational Study Protocol for Repeated Clinical Examination and Critical Care Ultrasonography Within the Simple Intensive Care Studies10:38

Observational Study Protocol for Repeated Clinical Examination and Critical Care Ultrasonography Within the Simple Intensive Care Studies

Published on: January 16, 2019

20.8K
A Protocol to Set Up Needle-Free Connector with Positive Displacement on Central Venous Catheter in Intensive Care Unit09:57

A Protocol to Set Up Needle-Free Connector with Positive Displacement on Central Venous Catheter in Intensive Care Unit

Published on: July 13, 2019

13.7K

Related Concept Videos

Coping Strategies: Problem Focused01:27

Coping Strategies: Problem Focused

Coping strategies are methods people use to manage, tolerate, or reduce the effects of stressors. These strategies involve both behavioral and psychological actions to handle stressful situations. One common approach is problem-focused coping, which aims to change or eliminate the source of stress rather than merely addressing its consequences. This method involves taking direct action to resolve the issue causing stress.
For example, consider a student who struggles to understand their...
485
Coping Strategies: Emotion Focused01:20

Coping Strategies: Emotion Focused

Emotion-focused coping refers to a set of strategies aimed at managing the emotional impact of stressors, rather than directly addressing their causes. This approach involves altering one's emotional response to stressful situations to reduce their psychological effects. For example, individuals might talk with a friend or engage in activities like journaling to express their feelings. Such actions can help achieve emotional clarity or release, providing the psychological stability needed...
491
Amines to Alkenes: Cope Elimination01:14

Amines to Alkenes: Cope Elimination

Cope elimination reaction involves the conversion of tertiary amines to alkene using hydrogen peroxide under thermal conditions, as depicted in figure 1.
2.4K
Sound Intensity00:58

Sound Intensity

The loudness of a sound source is related to how energetically the source is vibrating, consequently making the molecules of the propagation medium vibrate. To measure the loudness of a source, the physical quantity of interest is the intensity. This is defined as the energy emitted per unit of time per unit of area perpendicular to the sound wave's propagation direction. Since the total energy is greater if the source vibrates for a longer duration and over a larger area, dividing the...
4.7K
Sound Intensity Level00:53

Sound Intensity Level

Humans perceive sound by hearing. The human ear helps sound waves reach the brain, which then interprets the waves and creates the perception of hearing. The loudness of the environment in which a person is located determines whether they can distinguish between different sound sources.
The human ear can perceive an extensive range of sound intensity, necessitating the use of the logarithmic scale to define a physical quantity—the intensity level. It is a ratio of two intensities and...
4.8K
Measuring Reaction Rates03:09

Measuring Reaction Rates

Polarimetry finds application in chemical kinetics to measure the concentration and reaction kinetics of optically active substances during a chemical reaction. Optically active substances have the capability of rotating the plane of polarization of linearly polarized light passing through them—a feature called optical rotation. Optical activity is attributed to the molecular structure of substances. Normal monochromatic light is unpolarized and possesses oscillations of the electrical...
28.8K