Institutional Experience with Investigation and Service for Acute and Post-Traumatic Stress in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Abstract

Acute stress, post-traumatic stress and burnout are all stress-related mental health problems common to patients, families, physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals across disciplines. They are particularly common in those who care for critically ill and injured children. Despite growing awareness of the pervasiveness of burnout and stress among healthcare workers and families in the pediatric intensive care unit, there remain important gaps in the knowledge of factors affecting the development of stress-related mental illnesses, how individual and institutional factors protect or exacerbate these problems, and effective measures to limit or mitigate them. Challenges exist in developing and maintaining institutional engagement with essentially non-revenue generating activities that require additional staff. For academic institutions, significant opportunities exist for cross-departmental collaboration. We describe our five-year experience developing a multidisciplinary group investigating these problems and providing interventions to professionals and families in the pediatric intensive care unit.