Anthropology in the PICU: Addressing the Local Worlds of Families in an Otherwise Foreign Land
1Division of Medical Critical Care, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA.
Abstract:
Critical illness is a scary, and often previously unknown, experience for children and their families. To best assist pediatric critically ill patients and their caregivers, it is imperative to understand their local worlds outside of the PICU and what matters to them most. Anthropology, and its ethnographic lens and mode of inquiry, is an underutilized aspect of multidisciplinary care and research in pediatric critical care but has much to offer as exemplified herein.
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