School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology, Australia.
School of Psychology & Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Australia.
Palliat Med. 2020 Oct;34(9):1202-1219. doi: 10.1177/0269216320950089. Epub 2020 Aug 16.
The importance of caring for children with complex and serious conditions means that paediatric palliative care must continue during pandemics. The recent pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) provides a natural experiment to study health communication during pandemic times. However, it is unknown how communication within consultations might change during pandemics.
This study, a sub-study of a larger project, aimed to examine real-world instances of communication in paediatric palliative care consultations prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic to understand how clinicians and families talk about the pandemic.
Paediatric palliative care consultations prior to, during, and immediately following the initial peak of COVID-19 cases in Australia were video recorded and analysed using Conversation Analysis methods.
SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-five paediatric palliative care consultations (including face-to-face outpatient, telehealth outpatient and inpatient consultations) were video recorded within a public children's hospital in Australia. Participants included 14 health professionals, 15 child patients, 23 adult family members and 5 child siblings.
There was a pervasive relevance of both serious and non-serious talk about COVID-19 within the consultations recorded during the pandemic. Topics typical of a standard paediatric palliative care consultation often led to discussion of the pandemic. Clinicians (55%) and parents (45%) initiated talk about the pandemic.
Clinicians should not be surprised by the pervasiveness of COVID-19 or other pandemic talk within standard paediatric palliative care consultations. This awareness will enable clinicians to flexibly address family needs and concerns about pandemic-related matters that may impact health and wellbeing.
照顾患有复杂和严重疾病的儿童至关重要，这意味着在大流行期间必须继续提供儿科姑息治疗。最近的 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行提供了一个自然实验，可用于研究大流行期间的卫生通讯。但是，尚不清楚在大流行期间咨询中的沟通方式会如何变化。
本研究是一项更大项目的子研究，旨在检查 COVID-19 大流行之前和期间的儿科姑息治疗咨询中的真实沟通实例，以了解临床医生和家庭如何谈论大流行。
在澳大利亚 COVID-19 病例最初高峰之前、期间和之后立即，使用会话分析方法对儿科姑息治疗咨询进行视频记录和分析。
设置/参与者：在澳大利亚的一家公立儿童医院中，对 25 次儿科姑息治疗咨询（包括面对面门诊、远程医疗门诊和住院咨询）进行了视频记录。参与者包括 14 名卫生专业人员、15 名儿童患者、23 名成年家庭成员和 5 名儿童兄弟姐妹。
在大流行期间记录的咨询中，普遍存在有关 COVID-19 的严肃和非严肃话题。通常，典型的儿科姑息治疗咨询主题会导致对大流行的讨论。临床医生（55%）和父母（45%）发起了有关大流行的讨论。
临床医生不应对 COVID-19 或其他大流行在标准儿科姑息治疗咨询中的普遍性感到惊讶。这种认识将使临床医生能够灵活应对与大流行相关的可能影响健康和福祉的家庭需求和关注。
