Navigating Pediatric Organ Transplant: Nurses' Perspectives on Challenges and Coping

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Transplant Medicine
• Qualitative Research

Background:

• Pediatric organ transplantation is a complex field requiring specialized nursing care.
• Nurses in these clinics face unique stressors impacting their well-being and patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the lived experiences of nurses in pediatric organ transplant clinics in Türkiye.
• To identify key challenges including emotional, ethical, and communication issues.
• To understand the coping strategies employed by these nurses.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative descriptive study design.
• Semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 20 nurses.
• Thematic analysis using NVivo software.

Main Results:

• Nurses experience high stress and burnout from caring for critically ill children.
• Ethical dilemmas arise from organ allocation decisions, causing moral distress.
• Communication challenges include delivering bad news and managing family expectations.

Conclusions:

• Pediatric transplant nurses face substantial emotional, ethical, and communication burdens.
• Improved institutional support, psychological counseling, and communication training are recommended.
• Further multicenter studies can identify best practices for supporting transplant nurses.