Journal of Pediatric Nursing-Nursing Care of Children & Families最新文献

Purpose: To explore the experiences, practical and informational needs of caregivers with children undergoing emergency surgery.

Design and methods: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted with ten caregivers of children undergoing emergency surgery at a public tertiary hospital. Participants were recruited by convenience sampling. Data collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews were analyzed with thematic analysis.

Results: Four main themes emerged: (1) Factors affecting parental feelings about child's condition; (2) Parental understanding and behaviors; (3) Perception of care affected by prior experience and current hospital processes; and (4) Importance of resources and support systems. While parents expressed satisfaction with information provided by healthcare workers, many sought additional information from online resources, family and friends who have had similar experiences. Regular, clear and timely communication of information was pivotal in enhancing parental experience. Persistent pain or fever experienced while awaiting investigations or surgery was perceived as worsening of the medical condition caused by unnecessary delay. Alleviating the child's discomfort, providing emotional and practical caregiving support reduces parental anxiety. Trust in the hospital and healthcare team, influenced by past experiences, helped parents cope better.

Conclusion: The unpredictable nature of emergency surgery caused significant stress for parents, especially when the child experienced discomfort. Parental experience was improved when hospitals streamlined admission processes, enhanced interprofessional healthcare communication, provided personalized caregiver support, and ensured effective symptom management for children.

Implications for practice: Study findings can inform targeted interventions to enhance caregiver support, optimize healthcare processes, and address practical and informational gaps in pediatric emergency surgical care.

Background: Parents of hospitalized Medically Fragile Infants (MFI) experience high levels of stress and difficulty parenting their infant. They require support to help them navigate their new parenting role, which can be provided by nurses within relationships built on trust.

Objective: To explore how trust is established and maintained between parents of hospitalized MFI and nurses from the parents' perspective.

Method: Using a qualitative Interpretive Description study design, 15 parents of MFI from inpatient care units at a pediatric tertiary care hospital were recruited. MFI consisted of (a) one or more chronic medical illnesses, (b) reliance on medical technology, (c) > 30-day hospitalization, and (d) discharge home with a chronic illness. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews, which were transcribed, coded, and analyzed.

Results: Parents described how parenting their MFI on inpatient care units was excruciatingly difficult. They had increased stress and struggled with their mental health. Parent-nurse trusting relationships led to a collaborative partnership, where they worked together to provide safe and nurturing care to MFI. Parents identified ten core elements that helped them develop trust with nurses. Mistrust could arise when the core elements were absent, medical mistakes occurred, or infants were transferred between hospital units.

Conclusion: The establishment of parents' trust in nurses was crucial for the delivery of high-quality Family-Centered Care to hospitalized MFI and their parents, thereby supporting parents in coping with their stress. Instructions on how to establish trust with parents of MFI should be included in the nursing curriculum for both nursing students and practicing nurses.

Implications to practice: Nurses can support parents of MFI in coping with their mental health and emotions by developing trusting relationships. When relationships are built on trust, collaborative partnerships between nurses and parents form, enabling them to work together to provide safe and nurturing care to MFI within the hospital setting. Nurses can engage in the 10 core elements to develop trust, thereby establishing trusting relationships with parents of MFI.