Butler, AE;
Copnell, B;
Hall, H;
(2019)
When a Child Dies in the PICU: Practice Recommendations From a Qualitative Study of Bereaved Parents.
Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
, 20
(9)
e447-e451.
10.1097/PCC.0000000000002040.
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Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Around the world, the PICU is one of the most common sites for hospitalized children to die. Although ensuring the best possible care experience for these children and their families is important, clear recommendations for end-of-life and bereavement care, arising from the parents themselves, remain limited within current literature. This report aims to describe bereaved parents' recommendations for improvements in end-of-life care and bereavement follow-up when a child dies in intensive care. DESIGN: Thematic analysis of incidental data from a larger grounded theory study. SETTING: Four Australian PICUs. SUBJECTS: Twenty-six bereaved parents participated in audio-recorded, semi-structured interviews in 2015-2016. Interviews explored their experiences of having a child die in intensive care and their experiences of end-of-life care and bereavement follow-up. Data pertaining to this report were analyzed via thematic analysis. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Bereaved parents identified several areas for care delivery and improvement across three time periods: during hospitalization; during the dying phase; and during bereavement. During hospitalization, parents' recommendations focused on improved communication, changes to the physical environment, better self-care resources, and provision of family support. During the dying phase, parents suggested private, demedicalized rooms, familiar staff members, and support to leave the hospital. Recommendations for care after death focused mainly on the provision of ongoing support from the hospital or local bereavement services, as well as improved information delivery. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study offer many concrete recommendations for improvements in care both during and after a child's death. These recommendations range from simple practice changes to larger organizational modifications, offering many potential avenues for change and improvement both on an individual healthcare provider level and within individual PICUs.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | When a Child Dies in the PICU: Practice Recommendations From a Qualitative Study of Bereaved Parents |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1097/PCC.0000000000002040 |
| Publisher version: | http://doi.org/10.1097/PCC.0000000000002040 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | bereavement; child, hospitalized; death; health personnel; intensive care unit, pediatric; parents |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10080777 |
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