Our study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and predictive factors of withholding life support for children suffering from severe neurological impairment before admission to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Method: Children under 18 years of…
OBJECTIVE: To describe the current status of withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining interventions (LSI) for neonates in Japan and to identify physician- and institutional-related factors that may affect advance care planning (ACP) practices…
BACKGROUND: We aimed to describe pre-existing factors associated with severe disease, primarily admission to critical care, and death secondary to SARS-CoV-2 infection in hospitalised children and young people (CYP), within a systematic review and…
Learning Objectives: Assessing competence in pediatric critical care medicine (PCCM) training is challenging, and Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) were recently introduced to enhance the assessment process. There are 7 EPAs that define the…
The centralization of paediatric critical care services in most developed countries has seen an increase in the need for critically unwell and traumatically injured children to be transported for definitive care. This, in combination with the rising…
Objectives: 1) Fill the knowledge gaps about best practices related to collaboration with bereaved families in projects related to end-of-life practices, palliative care and parental bereavement in paediatrics. 2) Identify best practices for…
Over 200,000 patients are admitted into pediatric intensive care units (PICU) annually in North America, exposing families to extreme psychosocial stressors and adverse outcomes. While previous research has shown PICU patients and their parents…
Context: Infants of age less than one year have the highest mortality rate in pediatrics. The American Academy of Pediatrics published guidelines for palliative care in 2013; however, significant variation persists among local protocols addressing…
Background and Aim: The birth prevalence of children with congenital heart disease is about one percent a year. This might mean that a palliative diagnosis maybe directly exists from birth due to the complexity of the congenital heart disease. The…
OBJECTIVES:
Surrogate decision makers involved in decisions to limit life support for an incapacitated patient in the ICU have high rates of adverse emotional health outcomes distinct from normal processes of grief and bereavement. Narrative…
OBJECTIVES:
To test the ability of palliative care screening criteria to improve access to palliative care services in the PICU and examine the association between palliative care team involvement and ICU and hospital length of…
OBJECTIVE: To assess resource utilization and outcome in gravely ill patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) and the potential association with health care workers' and family members' expectations. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively…
BACKGROUND: Widespread variation exists in pediatric critical care nutrition practices, largely because of the scarcity of evidence to guide best practice recommendations. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this paper was to develop a list of topics to be…
Program Goals: The American College of Critical Care Medicine Task Force, 2004-2005 recommends "family meetings with the multi-professional team begin within 24-48 hours after ICU admission and are repeated as dictated by the condition of the patient…
Purpose: Children with severe neurological disabilities are at an increased risk of acute, life-threatening events. We assessed physicians' attitudes when making decisions in these situations.
This paper describes a practice innovation: the addition of formal weekly discussions of patients with prolonged PICU stay to reduce healthcare providers’ moral distress and decrease length of stay for patients with life-threatening illnesses. We…
Learning Objectives: The importance of Palliative and End of Life Care (PC, EOL) for children in the PICU with life-limiting, chronic conditions is increasingly recognized (1). Robust PC improves outcomes by symptom score, cost, and length of life…
OBJECTIVE:
Health professionals in PICUs support both child and parents when a child's death is imminent. Parents long to stay connected to their dying child but the high-tech environment and treatment implications make it difficult to stay…
The article analyses the decision-making process between doctors and parents of babies in neonatal intensive care. In particular, it focuses on cases in which the decision concerns the redirection of care from full intensive care to palliative care…
OBJECTIVE: To assess the perception of parents concerning the state of comfort maintained in their infants born with life-limiting conditions and treated by a standardized neonatal comfort care program. STUDY DESIGN: Participants were parents (n=35…
Highlights
•Parent experiences surrounding end-of-life care in the NICU were explored.
•The opportunity to be a parent was important regardless of the infant's prognosis.
•NICU nurses played a critical role in facilitating parenting.
•Living with…
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the quality of the care provided to newborns at End-of-Life (EOL) stages and compare the care which is already being given to the infants admitted to the NICUs of the selected hospital in (XXX) with the…
Study objective: Children with medical complexity represent a fragile population and account for the majority of patients followed in pediatric palliative care. Little is known in regard to the role of the emergency department (ED) in caring for the…
Background: Inherited metabolic diseases (IMD) bring considerable burden on the child and family. Challenging areas for health care include the identification of distressing symptoms, prognostic uncertainty, and bereavement. Literature regarding the…
Organ donation after euthanasia has been performed more than 70 times in Belgium and the Netherlands combined (personal communication, Jan Bollen, 2018). These two countries allow for euthanasia in minors as well, while Luxembourg, Colombia and…
The death of a neonate is devastating for all involved. Each year, critically ill neonates present to emergency departments across the United States. These infants require acute medical interventions with a goal of stabilization. Despite these…
Families and clinicians approaching a child's death in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) frequently encounter questions surrounding medical decision-making at the end of life (EOL), including defining what is in the child's best interest,…
OBJECTIVE: To review the literature on moral distress experienced by nursing and medical professionals within neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and paediatric intensive care units (PICUs). DESIGN: Pubmed, EBSCO (Academic Search Complete, CINAHL…
Moral distress is prevalent in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), where decisions regarding end-of-life care, periviable resuscitation, and medical futility are common. Due to its origins in the nursing literature, moral distress has primarily…
Objectives: To measure the level of moral distress in PICU and neonatal ICU health practitioners, and to describe the relationship of moral distress with demographic factors, burnout, and uncertainty. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: A large…
Modelling length of stay in neonatal care is vital to inform service planning and the counselling of parents. Preterm babies, at the highest risk of mortality, can have long stays in neonatal care and require high resource use. Previous work has…
Siblings of patients that have lengthy stays in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) may be affected emotionally by their brother’s or sister’s condition, separation, or even death. In an effort to assess the effect of perinatal loss on siblings a…
To compare the effectiveness of information delivered to family members of critically ill patients by junior and senior physicians, we performed a prospective randomized multicenter trial in 11 French intensive care units. Patients (n = 220) were…
Abstract
INTRODUCTION:
All-cause infant and childhood mortality has decreased in the UK over the last 30 years. Advances in paediatric critical care have increased survival in paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) but may have affected how and when…
BACKGROUND: Intractable feeding intolerance in children with severe neurological impairment (SNI) is poorly defined and understood. OBJECTIVE(S): (1) To describe 9 children with SNI, where intractable feeding intolerance was thought to be a…
BACKGROUND: End-of-life and bereavement care is an important consideration in intensive care. This study describes the type of bereavement care provided in intensive care units across Australia and New Zealand. DESIGN: Inductive qualitative content…
Objective The purpose of this study was to determine the opinions of practising neonatologists regarding the ethical permissibility of unilateral Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNAR) decisions in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Critical care providers are responsible for many aspects of patient care, primarily focusing on preserving life. However, nearly 40% of patients who are admitted to an adult critical care unit will not survive. Initiating a conversation about…
BACKGROUND: Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) music therapy is an emerging discipline. There is a growing evidence base supporting its use, with an emphasis on the immediate and short-term positive effects on infants' physiological responses and…
