Gallegos Cara, Cacchillo Natalie
Cara Gallegos is an associate professor in the School of Nursing at Boise State University, Boise, Idaho.
Natalie Cacchillo is a nursing student and an undergraduate research assistant in the School of Nursing at Boise State University.
Crit Care Nurse. 2023 Aug 1;43(4):20-28. doi: 10.4037/ccn2023774.
Medical advances and decreased mortality rates in the pediatric intensive care unit have increased the number of children surviving illnesses they may not have survived previously. The term child with medical complexity is poorly defined.
The purposes of this scoping review were to examine the experiences of parents of children with medical complexity in the pediatric intensive care unit and describe strategies to help support these parents.
Eight studies were eligible for inclusion. All were published from 2009 through 2021. One study was a quantitative observational study, 2 were mixed-methods studies, and 5 had a qualitative design. Parents experienced significant stress and depression. Sources of stress were parenting a child with complex chronic illness in the pediatric intensive care unit, uncertainty, communication between family members and clinicians, and lack of subspecialty communication. Strategies to assist parents included respecting parents' expertise and providing consistent and clear communication with family members and among subspecialty clinicians.
This review is the first to examine the experiences of parents of children with medical complexity in the pediatric intensive care unit. The study was limited by lack of available research and lack of consensus for the definition of child with medical complexity. However, this review describes strategies that nurses may find useful when caring for parents of children with medical complexity.
儿科重症监护病房的医学进步和死亡率下降，使得原本可能无法存活的患病儿童存活数量增加。“患有复杂疾病的儿童”这一术语定义不明确。
本范围综述的目的是考察儿科重症监护病房中患有复杂疾病儿童的家长的经历，并描述帮助支持这些家长的策略。
八项研究符合纳入标准。所有研究均发表于2009年至2021年期间。一项研究为定量观察性研究，两项为混合方法研究，五项为定性研究。家长们经历了巨大的压力和抑郁。压力来源包括在儿科重症监护病房照顾患有复杂慢性病的孩子、不确定性、家庭成员与临床医生之间的沟通以及缺乏专科间沟通。帮助家长的策略包括尊重家长的专业知识，并与家庭成员以及专科临床医生之间进行持续、清晰的沟通。
本综述首次考察了儿科重症监护病房中患有复杂疾病儿童的家长的经历。该研究受到可用研究不足以及对患有复杂疾病儿童定义缺乏共识的限制。然而，本综述描述了护士在照顾患有复杂疾病儿童的家长时可能会觉得有用的策略。
