A framework for conducting follow-up meetings with parents after a child's death in the pediatric intensive care unit

The Experiences and Needs of Hospice Care Nurses Facing Burnout: A Scoping Review

AIM

Explore the existing literature on the experience and needs of palliative nurses facing job burnout.

BACKGROUND

On a global scale, with the increase of aging, the number of people in need of palliative care has increased significantly, which has a huge impact on the professional pressure of palliative nurses. Existing literature focuses on examining palliative care from the perspective of patients, but palliative nurses also face the threats to physical and mental health caused by job burnout.

EVALUATION

A systematic literature search has been carried out in the following databases as of October 2021:PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Scopus. The Cochrane Library and Joanna Briggs Institute Library were also searched to confirm if there are any available systematic reviews on the subject. Manually searched the reference list of included papers.

KEY ISSUES

Seventeen studies were included in this review. Five key issues in the palliative care nurse's experience: (1) psychological harm, (2) physical symptoms, (3) negative emotions, (4) Burnout caused by communication barriers, and (5) Lack of experience. Two key issues in the needs of palliative care nurses: (1) social support, and (2) training and education.

CONCLUSION

The pressure of facing death for a long time and controlling the symptoms of patients has a very important impact on the mental and physical health of palliative nurses. Nursing staff have needed to be satisfied, and it is essential to provide support and help relieve the pressure on palliative nurses.

Consulting parents bereaved by childhood cancer: A qualitative study to improve bereavement services

Twelve Australian parents bereaved by childhood cancer were interviewed about their experiences of, and preferences for, bereavement support, to inform recommendations to improve bereavement care. Reflexive thematic analysis resulted in five themes: Care, empathy, and connection assist with bereavement; Communication makes a difference; Early and ongoing support is desired; Gender matters when grieving the loss of a child; and The pull of peer support. Parents can be assisted through empathy, early and ongoing support, enhanced communication, peer support, and care that is inclusive of all genders. Parents in non-metropolitan areas require increased and flexible support options.

Insight into the content of and experiences with follow-up conversations with bereaved parents in paediatrics: A systematic review

Aim

A follow‐up conversation with bereaved parents is a relatively well‐established intervention in paediatric clinical practice. Yet, the content and value of these conversations remain unclear. This review aims to provide insight into the content of follow‐up conversations between bereaved parents and regular healthcare professionals (HCPs) in paediatrics and how parents and HCPs experience these conversations.

Methods

Systematic literature review using the methods PALETTE and PRISMA. The search was conducted in PubMed and CINAHL on 3 February 2021. The results were extracted and integrated using thematic analysis.

Results

Ten articles were included. This review revealed that follow‐up conversations are built around three key elements: (1) gaining information, (2) receiving emotional support and (3) facilitating parents to provide feedback. In addition, this review showed that the vast majority of parents and HCPs experienced follow‐up conversations as meaningful and beneficial for several reasons.

Conclusion

An understanding of what parents and HCPs value in follow‐up conversations aids HCPs in conducting follow‐up conversations and improves care for bereaved parents by enhancing the HCPs' understanding of parental needs.

Bereaved Families: A Qualitative Study of Therapeutic Intervention

Background

A child's death is the most stressful event and the most complex grief that families face. The process of psychological adaptation to the illness and death of a child is difficult due to a variety of emotional reactions. Parental grief had received the attention of researchers only in recent years when it became clear that this reality differs substantially from the general grief process.

Objective

This work aims to highlight the needs of bereaved parents; increase the specificity and effectiveness of the therapeutic approach to prevent complications in the process of loss-making; and find the recurrent thematic nuclei in the development of bereavement present in a therapeutic group of parents who have lost their child to an onco-hematological disease.

Method

Between 2011 and 2016, five therapeutic groups for the grief elaboration were made. The sample included a total of 50 parents of children who died from cancer between the ages of 0 and 21 years.Content analysis was carried out as a qualitative analysis method. The SAS^® Text Miner software (SAS Institute Inc, 2004) was used to read, interpret, classify and integrate the data from numerous sources.

Results

The development and consecutive interpretation of the 5 clusters have been carried out to analyze the related topics using the node "Topic Analysis" and requesting the subdivision into five topics. Four topics have been well defined. Clear topics are reducible to categories of emotional relief, tools, legacy, and unfinished business. The topic analysis provides interesting indications about the different interpretive journeys of the bereavement situation and offers ideas regarding the different types of social responses.

Conclusions

After reviewing the existing bibliography, we have confirmed the lack of specific literature on the problem of grief in parents whose children have died from cancer. Much research has shown that parents who lose a child to cancer want support, and there are still few studies on the most effective interventions for this group.

Developing a theoretically grounded, digital, ecological momentary intervention for parental bereavement care using the ORBIT model-Phase 1

Current models of bereavement care do not address all of bereaved parents' unique needs. Diverse challenges limit parents' ability to access certain bereavement services. A web-based intervention prototype for bereaved parents was developed. Using convenience and snowball techniques, 14 participants (pediatric providers, software developers, and bereaved parents) were enrolled in a descriptive, cross-sectional feasibility and usability study. While the intervention was generally considered acceptable, three themes were identified to enhance its usability and acceptability: timing; delivery; and revisions. Further intervention development is needed to improve both short- and long-term physical and psychological outcomes for bereaved parents.

When a child dies: a systematic review of well-defined parent-focused bereavement interventions and their alignment with grief- and loss theories

BACKGROUND

The availability of interventions for bereaved parents have increased. However, most are practice based. To enhance the implementation of bereavement care for parents, an overview of interventions which are replicable and evidence-based are needed. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of well-defined bereavement interventions, focused on the parents, and delivered by regular health care professionals. Also, we explore the alignment between the interventions identified and the concepts contained in theories on grief in order to determine their theoretical evidence base.

METHOD

A systematic review was conducted using the methods PALETTE and PRISMA. The search was conducted in MEDLINE, Embase, and CINAHL. We included articles containing well-defined, replicable, paediatric bereavement interventions, focused on the parent, and performed by regular health care professionals. We excluded interventions on pathological grief, or interventions performed by healthcare professionals specialised in bereavement care. Quality appraisal was evaluated using the risk of bias, adapted risk of bias, or COREQ. In order to facilitate the evaluation of any theoretical foundation, a synthesis of ten theories about grief and loss was developed showing five key concepts: anticipatory grief, working models or plans, appraisal processes, coping, and continuing bonds.

RESULTS

Twenty-one articles were included, describing fifteen interventions. Five overarching components of intervention were identified covering the content of all interventions. These were: the acknowledgement of parenthood and the child's life; establishing keepsakes; follow-up contact; education and information, and; remembrance activities. The studies reported mainly on how to conduct, and experiences with, the interventions, but not on their effectiveness. Since most interventions lacked empirical evidence, they were evaluated against the key theoretical concepts which showed that all the components of intervention had a theoretical base.

CONCLUSIONS

In the absence of empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of most interventions, their alignment with theoretical components shows support for most interventions on a conceptual level. Parents should be presented with a range of interventions, covered by a variety of theoretical components, and aimed at supporting different needs. Bereavement interventions should focus more on the continuous process of the transition parents experience in readjusting to a new reality.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

This systematic review was registered in Prospero (registration number: CRD42019119241).

Physicians’ conceptualization of “Closure” as A benefit of Physician-Parent Follow-Up Meetings after A Child's Death in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

We examined physicians’ conceptualization of closure as a benefit of follow-up meetings with bereaved parents. The frequency of use and the meaning of the word “closure” were analyzed in transcripts of interviews with 67 critical care physicians affiliated with the Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network. In all, 38 physicians (57 percent) used the word “closure” at least once (median: 2; range: 1 to 7), for a total of 86 times. Physicians indicated that closure is a process or trajectory rather than an achievable goal. They also indicated that parents and physicians can move toward closure by gaining a better understanding of the causes and circumstances of the death and by reconnecting with, or resolving relationships between, parents and health professionals. Physicians suggested that a primary reason to conduct follow-up meetings is that such meetings offer parents and physicians an opportunity to move toward closure. Future research should attempt to determine whether follow-up meetings reduce the negative effects of bereavement for parents and physicians.

Caring for Parents After the Death of a Child

OBJECTIVES

To describe the health outcomes of bereaved parents and identify practical strategies for critical care providers as they support and provide anticipatory guidance to bereaved parents.

DATA SOURCES

PubMed and PsycInfo databases with search terms of bereavement, grief, with parent and pediatric or child complimented by personal experience and knowledge.

STUDY SELECTION

We sought studies describing parental health outcomes and needs of bereaved parents after the death of their child.

DATA SYNTHESIS

A narrative literature review was performed and framed from the perspective of PICU providers who care for bereaved parents. We aimed to describe experiences of grief and short- and long-term consequences and approaches to the care of parents and families in the immediate period and in the months after the death of a child.

CONCLUSIONS

The death of a child is a traumatic experience that can put parents at risk for adverse mental and physical health during bereavement. Health professionals working in PICUs can benefit from knowing these risks to best support bereaved parents, both during their child's hospitalization and in the early postdeath period. The bereavement experience of parents is an adaptive process, and ongoing professional support may be required for vulnerable families. After the child's hospitalization and death, a bereavement follow-up meeting with PICU physician(s) and staff may allow parents to gain additional information, emotional support, and provide an opportunity for parents to give feedback on their experiences.

Interventions to reduce medication errors in neonatal care: a systematic review

Background

Medication errors represent a significant but often preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in neonates. The objective of this systematic review was to determine the effectiveness of interventions to reduce neonatal medication errors.

Methods

A systematic review was undertaken of all comparative and noncomparative studies published in any language, identified from searches of PubMed and EMBASE and reference-list checking. Eligible studies were those investigating the impact of any medication safety interventions aimed at reducing medication errors in neonates in the hospital setting.

Results

A total of 102 studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria, including 86 comparative and 16 noncomparative studies. Medication safety interventions were classified into six themes: technology (n = 38; e.g. electronic prescribing), organizational (n = 16; e.g. guidelines, policies, and procedures), personnel (n = 13; e.g. staff education), pharmacy (n = 9; e.g. clinical pharmacy service), hazard and risk analysis (n = 8; e.g. error detection tools), and multifactorial (n = 18; e.g. any combination of previous interventions). Significant variability was evident across all included studies, with differences in intervention strategies, trial methods, types of medication errors evaluated, and how medication errors were identified and evaluated. Most studies demonstrated an appreciable risk of bias. The vast majority of studies (>90%) demonstrated a reduction in medication errors. A similar median reduction of 50-70% in medication errors was evident across studies included within each of the identified themes, but findings varied considerably from a 16% increase in medication errors to a 100% reduction in medication errors.

Conclusion

While neonatal medication errors can be reduced through multiple interventions aimed at improving the medication use process, no single intervention appeared clearly superior. Further research is required to evaluate the relative cost-effectiveness of the various medication safety interventions to facilitate decisions regarding uptake and implementation into clinical practice.

A Provider-Based Survey To Assess Bereavement Care Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices in Pediatric Oncologists

BACKGROUND

Bereavement support is a core tenet of palliative care that may prove difficult for clinicians as it is time-consuming, emotionally charged, and not emphasized in pediatrics training. This project is intended to describe the opinions, knowledge, and practice of bereavement care among pediatric oncologists to identify gaps in clinical care.

PROCEDURES

An internet-based survey instrument was pilot tested, refined, and distributed to pediatric oncologists in the United States. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS 9.2.

RESULTS

Electronic surveys were distributed to 2,061 pediatric oncologists and 522 surveys (25%) were fully completed. Participants were asked how likely they are to engage in particular bereavement activities (phone calls, condolence cards, memorial services, family meetings, or referrals for counseling) following the death of a pediatric cancer patient. Eighty-two percent of participants, at least, sometimes engage in at least one of these activities. Being female, an attending physician, and increased time in clinical practice were predictive of active participation in bereavement care. Nearly all participants (96%) believe that bereavement care is part of good clinical care, while 8% indicate that bereavement support is not their responsibility. Lack of time and resources were the biggest barriers to providing bereavement support.

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of pediatric oncologists engage in clinical practices to support bereaved families. Lack of time and physical resources pose significant barriers to clinician's efforts. Additional supports should be explored to increase pediatric oncology physician uptake of bereavement care practices.

Aligning guidelines and medical practice: Literature review on pediatric palliative care guidelines

OBJECTIVE

Palliative care for children is becoming an important subspecialty of healthcare. Although concurrent administration of curative and palliative care is recommended, timely referral to pediatric palliative care (PPC) services remains problematic. This literature review aims to identify barriers and recommendations for proper implementation of palliative care for children through the looking glass of PPC guidelines.

METHOD

To identify studies on PPC guidelines, five databases were searched systematically between 1960 and 2015: Scopus, PubMed, PsycINFO, the Web of Science, and CINAHL. No restrictions were placed on the type of methodology employed in the studies.

RESULTS

Concerning barriers, most of the papers focused on gaps within medical practice and the lack of evidence-based research. Common recommendations therefore included: training and education of healthcare staff, formation of a multidisciplinary PPC team, research on the benefits of PPC, and raising awareness about PPC. A small number of publications reported on the absence of clear guidance in PPC documents regarding bereavement care, as well as on the difficulties and challenges involved in multidisciplinary care teams.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

Our results indicate that a critical assessment of both the research guidelines and medical practice is required in order to promote timely implementation of PPC for pediatric patients.

The experiences and needs of healthcare professionals facing perinatal death: A scoping review

BACKGROUND

Globally, perinatal death is on a decline. However, its impact on the healthcare profession is huge. The existing literature focuses on examining perinatal death from parents' perspectives and patient death from the perspectives of nurses and a few doctors in critical care, oncology, and neonatology in the West. Due to the unique setting of maternity units where death is not routinely anticipated, as well as distinctive socio-cultural views surrounding death, there is a need to comprehensively review literature examining the impact of perinatal death on the perspectives of healthcare professionals working in maternity units.

OBJECTIVES

To examine available literature on the needs and experiences of healthcare professionals working in maternity units who have experienced perinatal death.

DESIGN

A scoping review of published and unpublished data.

DATA SOURCES

A systematic literature search from 1st January 1996 to 5th August 2016 was made in the following databases: PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science. Cochrane Library, Joanna Briggs Institute Library of Systematic Reviews, York Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, Open Grey, ProQuest Dissertation and Theses, and Mednar were reviewed for grey literature. A hand search of the reference lists of the included papers was performed.

REVIEW METHODS

Based on the pre-set inclusion criteria, 1519 articles were screened for their titles and abstracts. Eighty-five full-text papers were reviewed, resulting in 30 papers included for this review. The data were extracted and cross-checked between the reviewers. Any discrepancy between the authors' views would be discussed with a third reviewer until consensus was reached. Thematic analysis was used to categorise the results into themes.

RESULTS

Two major themes emerged from the review: the experiences and needs of healthcare professionals. Six subthemes emerged from the experiences of healthcare professionals: 1) psychological impact, 2) physical impact, 3) positive feelings, 4) coping strategies, 5) personal factors influencing the experience, and 6) cultural factors influencing the experience. Three subthemes including 1) social support, 2) training and education, and 3) other needs explained the needs of healthcare professionals. Studies focusing on the experiences and needs of physicians were scarce.

CONCLUSIONS

Perinatal death has a profound impact on the psychological and physical wellbeing of healthcare professionals. They have unmet needs that need to be addressed. Though they use internal and external resources to combat their stress, institutional support acknowledging their stress and their needs is essential. Culturally-sensitive education and training are needed to provide support to these professionals.

Parents' experience of a follow-up meeting after a child's death in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit

OBJECTIVE

'To identify parents' experience of a follow up meeting and to explore whether the conversation was adequate to meet the needs of parents for a follow-up after their child's death in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

DESIGN AND SETTING

Qualitative method utilising semi-structured interviews with six pairs of parents 2-12 weeks after the follow-up conversation. The interviews were held in the parents' homes at their request. Data were analysed using a qualitative, descriptive approach and thematic analysis.

FINDINGS

Four main themes emerged: (i) the way back to the PICU; (ii) framework; (iii) relations and (iv) closure.

CONCLUSION

The parents expressed nervousness before the meeting, but were all pleased to have participated in these follow-up meetings. The parents found it meaningful that the follow-up meeting was interdisciplinary, since the parents could have answers to their questions both about treatment and care. It was important that the staff involved in the follow-up meeting were those who had been present through the hospitalisation and at the time of the child's death. Parents experienced the follow-up meeting as being a closure of the course in the PICU, regardless the length of the hospitalisation.

Bereavement Follow-Up After the Death of a Child as a Standard of Care in Pediatric Oncology

After a child's death to cancer, families commonly want continued connection with the healthcare team that cared for their child, yet bereavement follow-up is often sporadic. A comprehensive literature search found that many bereaved parents experience poor psychological outcomes during bereavement and that parents want follow-up and benefit from continued connection with their child's healthcare providers. Evidence suggests that the standard of care should consist of at least one meaningful contact between the healthcare team and bereaved parents to identify those at risk for negative psychosocial sequelae and to provide resources for bereavement support.

Meaning making during parent-physician bereavement meetings after a child's death

OBJECTIVE

Our goal was to identify and describe types of meaning-making processes that occur among parents during bereavement meetings with their child's intensive care physician after their child's death in a pediatric intensive care unit.

METHODS

Fifty-three parents of 35 deceased children participated in a bereavement meeting with their child's physician 14.5 ± 6.3 weeks after the child's death. One meeting was conducted per family. Meetings were video recorded and transcribed verbatim. Using a directed content analysis, an interdisciplinary team analyzed the transcripts to identify and describe meaning-making processes that support and extend extant meaning-making theory.

RESULTS

Four major meaning-making processes were identified: (1) sense making, (2) benefit finding, (3) continuing bonds, and (4) identity reconstruction. Sense making refers to seeking biomedical explanations for the death, revisiting parents' prior decisions and roles, and assigning blame. Benefit finding refers to exploring positive consequences of the death, including ways to help others, such as giving feedback to the hospital, making donations, participating in research, volunteering, and contributing to new medical knowledge. Continuing bonds refers to parents' ongoing connection with the deceased child manifested by reminiscing about the child, sharing photographs and discussing personal rituals, linking objects, and community events to honor the child. Identity reconstruction refers to changes in parents' sense of self, including changes in relationships, work, home, and leisure.

CONCLUSIONS

Parent-physician bereavement meetings facilitate several types of meaning-making processes among bereaved parents. Further research should evaluate the extent to which meaning making during bereavement meetings affects parents' health outcomes.

Language Analysis as a Window to Bereaved Parents' Emotions During a Parent-Physician Bereavement Meeting

Parent-physician bereavement meetings may benefit parents by facilitating sense making, which is associated with healthy adjustment after a traumatic event. Prior research suggests a reciprocal relationship between sense making and positive emotions. We analyzed parents' use of emotion words during bereavement meetings to better understand parents' emotional reactions during the meeting and how their emotional reactions related to their appraisals of the meeting. Parents' use of positive emotion words increased, suggesting the meetings help parents make sense of the death. Parents' use of positive emotion words was negatively related to their own and/or their spouse's appraisals of the meeting, suggesting that parents who have a positive emotional experience during the meeting may also have a short-term negative reaction. Language analysis can be an effective tool to understand individuals' ongoing emotions and meaning making processes during interventions to reduce adverse consequences of a traumatic event, such as a child's death.

Feasibility and perceived benefits of a framework for physician-parent follow-up meetings after a child's death in the PICU

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the feasibility and perceived benefits of conducting physician-parent follow-up meetings after a child's death in the PICU according to a framework developed by the Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network.

DESIGN

Prospective observational study.

SETTING

Seven Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network-affiliated children's hospitals.

SUBJECTS

Critical care attending physicians, bereaved parents, and meeting guests (i.e., parent support persons, other health professionals).

INTERVENTIONS

Physician-parent follow-up meetings using the Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network framework.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Forty-six critical care physicians were trained to conduct follow-up meetings using the framework. All meetings were video recorded. Videos were evaluated for the presence or absence of physician behaviors consistent with the framework. Present behaviors were evaluated for performance quality using a 5-point scale (1 = low, 5 = high). Participants completed meeting evaluation surveys. Parents of 194 deceased children were mailed an invitation to a follow-up meeting. Of these, one or both parents from 39 families (20%) agreed to participate, 80 (41%) refused, and 75 (39%) could not be contacted. Of 39 who initially agreed, three meetings were canceled due to conflicting schedules. Thirty-six meetings were conducted including 54 bereaved parents, 17 parent support persons, 23 critical care physicians, and 47 other health professionals. Physician adherence to the framework was high; 79% of behaviors consistent with the framework were rated as present with a quality score of 4.3 ± 0.2. Of 50 evaluation surveys completed by parents, 46 (92%) agreed or strongly agreed the meeting was helpful to them and 40 (89%) to others they brought with them. Of 36 evaluation surveys completed by critical care physicians (i.e., one per meeting), 33 (92%) agreed or strongly agreed the meeting was beneficial to parents and 31 (89%) to them.

CONCLUSIONS

Follow-up meetings using the Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network framework are feasible and viewed as beneficial by meeting participants. Future research should evaluate the effects of follow-up meetings on bereaved parents' health outcomes.

Family-centered care in the pediatric intensive care unit

Patient-centered and family-centered care (PFCC) has been endorsed by many professional health care organizations. Although variably defined, PFCC is an approach to care that is respectful of and responsive to the preferences, needs, and values of individual patients and their families. Research regarding PFCC in the pediatric intensive care unit has focused on 4 areas including (1) family visitation; (2) family-centered rounding; (3) family presence during invasive procedures and cardiopulmonary resuscitation; and (4) family conferences. Although challenges to successful implementation exist, the growing body of evidence suggests that PFCC is beneficial to patients, families, and staff.

Physicians' conceptualization of "closure" as a benefit of physician-parent follow-up meetings after a child's death in the pediatric intensive care unit

We examined physicians' conceptualization of closure as a benefit of follow-up meetings with bereaved parents. The frequency of use and the meaning of the word "closure" were analyzed in transcripts of interviews with 67 critical care physicians affiliated with the Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network. In all, 38 physicians (57 percent) used the word "closure" at least once (median: 2; range: 1 to 7), for a total of 86 times. Physicians indicated that closure is a process or trajectory rather than an achievable goal. They also indicated that parents and physicians can move toward closure by gaining a better understanding of the causes and circumstances of the death and by reconnecting with, or resolving relationships between, parents and health professionals. Physicians suggested that a primary reason to conduct follow-up meetings is that such meetings offer parents and physicians an opportunity to move toward closure. Future research should attempt to determine whether followup meetings reduce the negative effects of bereavement for parents and physicians.

Nurses' experiences providing bereavement follow-up: an exploratory study using feminist poststructuralism

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To describe the experiences of nurses who provided bereavement follow-up with families after the death of a child or a pregnancy loss and explore facilitators, barriers and challenges.

BACKGROUND

Bereavement follow-up after the death of a child has been identified as an indicator of quality end of life care by families and health care professionals. Research suggests communication with bereaved families can be challenging and intimidating for nurses, particularly those who have had limited experience. In-depth information about the personal, professional and institutional experiences of nurses providing this care is lacking.

DESIGN

Eight registered nurses with experience in providing bereavement follow-up to families were interviewed. Purposive sampling provided information rich cases.

METHODS

Feminist poststructuralism was the guiding theory and methodology used to uncover underlying discourses. This methodology uses the concepts of discourse analysis, subjectivity and agency to enable a critical understanding of the relationships.

RESULTS

The nurses described complex interactions between themselves, the families, hospital practices and policy, and social norms around the discourses of death and professionalism. The importance of relationship, self-care and closure, professional boundaries, invisible nature of the practice and institutional support were prominent themes. Insights into the challenges and rewards of providing bereavement follow-up are discussed in the context of power relations, and recommendations for change are offered.

CONCLUSIONS

Nurses in the study were strongly committed to providing ongoing care to families who had experienced the death of a child or a pregnancy loss. Relationships were important to bereavement follow-up care, and the connections with families were often emotional for the nurses.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Nurses and other health professionals would benefit from increased support and education related to bereavement and communication with grieving families. Clarity related to institutional policies to support bereavement care is paramount in helping nurses and others in this work.

Struggling to do what is right for the child: pediatric life-support decisions among physicians and nurses in France and Quebec

This study examined (a) how physicians and nurses in France and Quebec make decisions about life-sustaining therapies (LSTs) for critically ill children and (b) corresponding ethical challenges. A focus groups design was used. A total of 21 physicians and 24 nurses participated (plus 9 physicians and 13 nurses from a prior secondary analysis). Principal differences related to roles: French participants regarded physicians as responsible for LST decisions, whereas Quebec participants recognized parents as formal decision-makers. Physicians stated they welcomed nurses' input but found they often did not participate, while nurses said they wanted to contribute but felt excluded. The LST limitations were based on conditions resulting in long-term consequences, irreversibility, continued deterioration, inability to engage in relationships and loss of autonomy. Ethical challenges related to: the fear of making errors in the face of uncertainty; struggling with patient/family consequences of one's actions; questioning the parental role and dealing with relational difficulties between physicians and nurses.