Experiences of the Parents of Children Admitted to PICU.

Introduction: A pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) is a highly technological and fast-paced setting in a hospital.

Objective: To explore the experiences of the parents in the critical care area of a selected tertiary care facility.

Materials and methods: In a qualitative study, we interviewed 10 purposively selected parents of the children admitted to PICU using a pre-validated in-depth interview schedule. All parents, whose children were admitted to PICU for more than 5 days, who understood Hindi or English and were willing to participate in the study, were enrolled in the study. Parents of critically ill children having readmission to PICU or prolonged stay of more than 15 days and not accompanied by parents were excluded.

Results: Parents had unmet needs, such as the need for information, counseling and education from the healthcare team (HCT) members, having trusting relationship with the HCT, and expecting receiving orientation of the routines and the protocols of PICU, and empathy from the various levels of PICU team. The majority of subjects expressed the desire to talk to a dedicated person for their queries. The parents had multiple feelings of distress, hopelessness, helplessness, guilt, and the fear of losing the child and used various coping strategies.

Conclusion: Parents of critically ill children in the PICU have unmet needs. Healthcare team members should take initiative in relieving parental distress and improving their coping abilities.

How to cite this article: Kichu S, Joshi P, Bhandari S, Lodha R, Jaykrishnan K. Experiences of the Parents of Children Admitted to PICU. Indian J Crit Care Med 2024;28(7):696-701.