End-of-life care decisions in the PICU: roles professionals play

Discussion of Spirituality in Family Conferences of Infants With Neurologic Conditions

INTRODUCTION

Spirituality serves as a mechanism to understand and cope with serious illness, yet little is known about how families and clinicians incorporate spirituality in pediatric family conferences.

OBJECTIVES

We sought to characterize the frequency and nature of spiritual statements in conferences between families and clinicians caring for infants with neurologic conditions.

METHODS

In this descriptive qualitative study, we used an existing dataset of audio-recorded, de-identified, transcribed family conferences of infants with neurologic conditions. Inclusion criteria for infants were 1) age < 1 year, 2) presence of a neurologic condition, and 3) planned conversation about neurologic prognosis or goals of care. We used a content analysis approach to code the data.

RESULTS

68 family conferences were held for 24 infants and 36 parents. Most parents (n = 32/36, 89%) self-identified as spiritual. References to spirituality occurred in the 32% of conferences (n = 22/68). Spiritual discussion included three domains: 1) Spiritual beliefs and practices, 2) Spiritual support, and 3) Parent-child connection as sacred. Clinicians' responses to family member spiritual statements were inconsistent and included providing affirmation, exploring goals of care, and continuing discussion of clinical information.

CONCLUSIONS

Spirituality was discussed in approximately one-third of family conferences. Clinician engagement with spirituality discussion was variable. These findings highlight a need for training on when and how to discuss spirituality in conversations with families of seriously ill infants.

Voice of the nurse in paediatric intensive care: a scoping review

OBJECTIVES

The objective was to explore how the voice of the nurse in paediatric intensive care units (PICU) is portrayed in the literature.

DESIGN

Scoping review using the six-step scoping review framework outlined by Arksey and O'Malley.

DATA SOURCES

PubMed, Nursing (OVID), Medline (OVID), CINHAL (EBSCO), SCOPUS and Web of Science online databases. The initial search was conducted in June 2020 and was repeated in January 2023.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

The review included publications in English; published since 2010 in peer-reviewed journals; papers identified nurses in the population studied and conducted in PICU.

DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS

The papers were screened by abstract and subsequently by reading the full text by two independent reviewers. The literature was imported into the software program NVivo V.12 for thematic analysis.

RESULTS

The scoping review identified 53 articles for inclusion. While the value of seeking the voice of the nurse has been identified explicitly in other healthcare contexts, it has only been identified indirectly in PICU. Four main themes emerged from the data: the voice of the nurse in the organisation of PICU, caring for children in PICU, as a healthcare professional, and communication in PICU.

CONCLUSION

While this literature suggests many facets of the complex role of the nurse, including partnership with families and advocating for patients, the limited literature on care delivery reduces the capacity to fully understand the voice of the nurse at key junctions of care. Further research is needed on the voice of the nurse in PICU to illuminate the barriers and enablers for nurses using their voices during decision-making.

Exploring the "shared" in shared decision-making in the care for children with chronic diseases or disabilities: what are the roles of parents and professionals?

There is a growing body of literature that recognizes the importance of shared decision-making (SDM) in the care for children with chronic conditions and/or disabilities. Although participation in SDM can be more or less active, the tuning between parents and professionals about the way they want to participate in SDM is often an implicit process, limiting parents' optimal involvement. Role definitions may support both partners in the process of SDM. We conducted a scoping review to investigate the available knowledge on the interpretation and variability of different roles of parents and professionals in SDM. In total, 43 articles were included and were subjected to data extraction and thematic coding. The findings show that roles are described in the literature by three themes: (1) active and passive involvement, (2) leadership in decision-making, and (3) six specific roles: informing, advocating, supporting, facilitating, coordinating, and interacting. Some, but not all, of these roles are described for parents as well as professionals.Conclusion: The literature provides a first definition of the various roles parents and professionals may take during SDM. However, the results do not inform how the described roles can be performed in clinical practice. Follow-up research is needed to develop and evaluate practical initiatives to achieve suitable roles for both parents and professionals. What is Known: • Parents often play a role in shared decision-making What is New: • Parents and professionals can play different and various roles in decision-making • Most described roles can be played by both parents and professionals.

Associations of Patient and Parent Characteristics With Parental Decision Regret in the PICU: A Secondary Analysis of the 2015-2017 Navigate Randomized Comparative Trial

OBJECTIVES

To identify self-reported meaningful decisions made by parents in the PICU and to determine patient and parent characteristics associated with the development of parental decision regret, a measurable, self-reported outcome associated with psychologic morbidity.

DESIGN

Secondary analysis of the Navigate randomized comparative trial (NCT02333396).

SETTING

Two tertiary, academic PICUs.

PATIENTS

Spanish- or English-speaking parents of PICU patients aged less than 18 years who were expected to remain in the PICU for greater than 24 hours from time of enrollment or who had a risk of mortality greater than 4% based on Pediatric Index of Mortality 2 score.

INTERVENTIONS

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Between April 2015 and March 2017, 233 parents of 209 patients completed a survey 3-5 weeks post-PICU discharge which included the Decision Regret Scale (DRS), a 5-item, 5-point Likert scale tool scored from 0 (no regret) to 100 (maximum regret). Two hundred nine patient/parent dyads were analyzed. The decisions parents reported as most important were categorized as: procedure, respiratory support, medical management, parent-staff interactions and communication, symptom management, fluid/electrolytes/nutrition, and no decision. Fifty-one percent of parents had some decision regret (DRS > 0) with 19% scoring in the moderate-severe range (DRS 26-100). The mean DRS score was 12.7 ( sd 18.1). Multivariable analysis showed that parental Hispanic ethnicity was associated with greater odds ratio (OR 3.12 [95% CI, 1.36-7.13]; p = 0.007) of mild regret. Being parents of a patient with an increased PICU length of stay (LOS) or underlying respiratory disease was associated with greater odds of moderate-severe regret (OR 1.03 [95% CI, 1.009-1.049]; p = 0.004 and OR 2.91 [95% CI, 1.22-6.94]; p = 0.02, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Decision regret was experienced by half of PICU parents in the 2015-2017 Navigate study. The characteristics associated with decision regret (parental ethnicity, PICU LOS, and respiratory disease) are easily identifiable. Further study is needed to understand what contributes to regret in this population and what interventions could provide support and minimize the development of regret.

Child life specialist services, practice, and utilization across health care: a scoping review

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this review was to map the available evidence regarding the scope of child life specialist services, practice, and utilization.

INTRODUCTION

The concept of child life services began in 1922 and emerged as the child life specialist services specialty in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s. Child life specialists are members of multidisciplinary health care system teams who prioritize the developmental needs of pediatric patients to support and improve patient and family health care experiences. Evidence of the effectiveness of child life specialist services and the utilization of those services is often incorporated in multidisciplinary research reports and thus overlooked.

INCLUSION CRITERIA

All quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research study reports and systematic reviews investigating child life specialist services, practice, and utilization in health care systems were included.

METHODS

This review was guided by the JBI methodology for scoping reviews and a published a priori protocol. CINAHL (EBSCOhost), MEDLINE (PubMed), Scopus, and PsycINFO (APA) were searched for evidence published from January 1980 to August 2022.

RESULTS

Research publications about child life specialist services, practice, and utilization have increased dramatically over the past decade, with more than 50% of studies published in the past 5 years. Although the first authors of the majority of the research publications were physicians, these multidisciplinary author teams depicted child life specialist services in a variety of roles, including co-investigators, interventionists, and research subjects. The 105 full-text publications reviewed were from 9 countries, plus 1 publication that surveyed people across Europe. The contexts spanned a wide scope of clinical settings and medical subspecialties, but primarily in hospitals and health centers, and to a lesser extent, in ambulatory clinics and communities. A wide variety of child life specialist services were described across these settings.

CONCLUSION

Mapping the research can help delineate the barriers and facilitators to child life specialist services in health care systems. This scoping review provides evidence of the global diffusion of child life specialist services across health care system settings, with recent increases in research publications involving child life specialist services.

Parental supporter during pediatric resuscitation: Qualitative exploration of caregivers' and healthcare professionals' experiences and perceptions

BACKGROUND

Child resuscitation is a critical and stressful time for family caregivers and healthcare professionals. The aim of this study was to explore caregivers' and healthcare professionals' experiences and perceptions of a parental supporter during pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation to provide guidance to healthcare professionals on supporting parents and other family caregivers during resuscitation.

METHODS

This study used an exploratory descriptive qualitative approach. The setting was two large referral pediatric governmental hospitals. Participants were 17 caregivers who had experienced their child's resuscitation, and 13 healthcare professionals who served on resuscitation teams in emergency rooms or intensive care wards. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted and data were analyzed using thematic analysis. COREQ guidelines were followed.

RESULTS

Participants shared their experiences and perceptions of a parental supporter during pediatric resuscitation in three themes: 1) Requirement for the presence of a parental supporter, 2) Expectations of the parental supporter, and 3) Characteristics of the parental supporter.

CONCLUSIONS

Study findings highlight the need for a parental supporter during pediatric resuscitation; however, there is no defined parental supporter role in current guiding policies due to limited research on this role. More research on the parental supporter role is needed so effective policies and protocols can be developed to enhance family-centered care practices in pediatric emergency and acute care settings.

Challenges of Families of Patients Hospitalized in the PICU: A Preplanned Secondary Analysis From the Navigate Dataset

OBJECTIVES

To describe challenges experienced by parents of children hospitalized in the PICU during PICU admission as reported by family navigators.

DESIGN

A preplanned secondary analysis of open-response data coded via inductive qualitative approach from the Navigate randomized controlled trial (RCT) dataset (ID NCT02333396).

SETTING

Two university-affiliated PICUs in the Midwestern United States as part of an RCT.

PATIENTS

Two hundred twenty-four parents of 190 PICU patients.

INTERVENTIONS

In 2015-2017, trained family navigators assessed and addressed parent needs, offered weekly family meetings, and provided post-PICU discharge parent check-ins as part of a study investigating the effectiveness of a communication support intervention ("PICU Supports").

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

We analyzed qualitative data recorded by family navigators weekly across 338 encounters. Navigators described families' "biggest challenge," "communication challenges," and ways the team could better support the family. We used an inductive qualitative coding approach and a modified member-checking exercise. The most common difficulties included home life , hospitalization , and diagnosis distress (45.2%, 29.0%, and 17.2% of families, respectively). Navigators often identified that parents had co-occurring challenges. Communication was identified as a "biggest challenge" for 8% of families. Communication challenges included lack of information, team communication , and communication quality (7.0%, 4.8%, and 4.8% of families, respectively). Suggestions for improving care included better medical communication, listening, rapport, and resources.

CONCLUSIONS

This study describes families' experiences and challenges assessed throughout the PICU stay. Family navigators reported families frequently experience stressors both internal and external to the hospital environment, and communication challenges between families and providers may be additional sources of distress. Further research should develop and assess interventions aimed at improving provider-family communication and reducing stressors outside the hospitalization itself, such as home life difficulties.

Intensive Care Nurses' Experiences Related to Dying Patients: A Qualitative Study

OBJECTIVE

To describe intensive care nurses' experiences of caring for dying patients.

METHOD

This study was carried out between July 15, 2019, and September 15, 2019, in a university hospital's intensive care unit. We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 14 intensive care nurses to describe their experiences related to patient deaths. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to identify, analyse and report the identified themes.

RESULTS

Four themes were identified: (I) Emotions experienced the first time their patient passed away; (II) feelings and thoughts on impact of death; (III) difficulties encountered when providing care and (IV) coping methods with this situation.

CONCLUSION

Despite the passage of time, nurses are unable to forget their death experiences when they first encountered. They oftentimes use ineffective methods of coping and were negatively affected physically and emotionally.

A troubling foundational inconsistency: autonomy and collective agency in critical care decision-making

'Shared' decision-making is heralded as the gold standard of how medical decisions should be reached, yet how does one 'share' a decision when any attempt to do so will undermine autonomous decision-making? And what exactly is being shared? While some authors have described parallels in literature, philosophical examination of shared agency remains largely uninvestigated as an explanation in bioethics. In the following, shared decision-making will be explained as occurring when a group, generally comprised of a patient and or their family, and the medical team become a genuine intentional subject which acts as a collective agent. Collective agency can better explain how some medical decisions are reached, contrary to the traditional understanding and operationalization of 'autonomy' in bioethics. Paradoxically, this often occurs in the setting of high-stakes moral decision-making, where conventional wisdom would suggest individuals would most want to exercise autonomous action according to their personally held values and beliefs. This explication of shared decision-making suggests a social ontology ought to inform or displace significant aspects of autonomy as construed in bioethics. It will be argued that joint commitments are a fundamental part of human life, informing and explaining much human behavior, and thus suggesting that autonomy - conceived of as discrete, individuated moral reasoning of a singular moral agent - is not an unalloyed 'good.'

Physician-reported characteristics, representations, and ethical justifications of shared decision-making practices in the care of paediatric patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness

BACKGROUND

Despite consensus about the importance of implementing shared decision-making (SDM) in clinical practice, this ideal is inconsistently enacted today. Evidence shows that SDM practices differ in the degree of involvement of patients or family members, or in the amount of medical information disclosed to patients in order to "share" meaningfully in treatment decisions. Little is known on which representations and moral justifications physicians hold when realizing SDM. This study explored physicians' experiences of SDM in the management of paediatric patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness (PDOC). Specifically, we focused on physicians' SDM approaches, representations, and ethical justifications for engaging in SDM.

METHODS

We used a qualitative approach to explore the SDM experiences of 13 ICU physicians, paediatricians, and neurologists based in Switzerland who have been or were involved in the care of paediatric patients living with PDOC. A semi-structured interview format was used and interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Data were analysed through thematic analysis.

RESULTS

We found that participants followed three main decision-making approaches: the "brakes" approach, characterized by maximized family's decisional freedom, though conditional to physician's judgment regarding the medical appropriateness of a treatment; the "orchestra director" approach, characterized by a multi-step decision-making process led by the main physician aimed at eliciting the voices of the care team members and of the family; and the "sunbeams" approach, characterized by a process oriented to reach consensus with family members through dialogue, where the virtues of the physician are key to guide the process. We also found that participants differed in the moral justifications sustaining each approach, citing the duty to respect parental autonomy, to invest in an ethics of care, and to employ physicians' virtues to guide the decision-making process.

CONCLUSION

Our results show that physicians come to perform SDM in different ways, with several representations, and distinct ethical justifications. SDM training among health care providers should clarify the ductility of SDM and the several ethical motivations underpinning it, rather than insisting on the principle of respect for patient's autonomy as its only moral foundation.

Prognostic and Goals-of-Care Communication in the PICU: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVE

Admission to the PICU may result in substantial short- and long-term morbidity for survivors and their families. Engaging caregivers in discussion of prognosis is challenging for PICU clinicians. We sought to summarize the literature on prognostic, goals-of-care conversations (PGOCCs) in the PICU in order to establish current evidence-based practice, highlight knowledge gaps, and identify future directions.

DATA SOURCES

PubMed (MEDLINE and PubMed Central), EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Scopus.

STUDY SELECTION

We reviewed published articles (2001-2022) that examined six themes within PGOCC contextualized to the PICU: 1) caregiver perspectives, 2) clinician perspectives, 3) documentation patterns, 4) communication skills training for clinicians, 5) family conferences, and 6) prospective interventions to improve caregiver-clinician communication.

DATA EXTRACTION

Two reviewers independently assessed eligibility using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis methodology.

DATA SYNTHESIS

Of 1,420 publications screened, 65 met criteria for inclusion with several key themes identified. Parent and clinician perspectives highlighted the need for clear, timely, and empathetic prognostic communication. Communication skills training programs are evaluated by a participant's self-perceived improvement. Caregiver and clinician views on quality of family meetings may be discordant. Documentation of PGOCCs is inconsistent and most likely to occur shortly before death. Only two prospective interventions to improve caregiver-clinician communication in the PICU have been reported. The currently available studies reflect an overrepresentation of bereaved White, English-speaking caregivers of children with known chronic conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

Future research should identify evidence-based communication practices that enhance caregiver-clinician PGOCC in the PICU and address: 1) caregiver and clinician perspectives of underserved and limited English proficiency populations, 2) inclusion of caregivers who are not physically present at the bedside, 3) standardized communication training programs with broader multidisciplinary staff inclusion, 4) improved design of patient and caregiver educational materials, 5) the development of pediatric decision aids, and 6) inclusion of long-term post-PICU outcomes as a measure for PGOCC interventions.

Parental Views of Social Worker and Chaplain Involvement in Care and Decision Making for Critically Ill Children with Cancer

Background: Social workers (SWs) and chaplains are trained to support families facing challenges associated with critical illness and potential end-of-life issues. Little is known about how parents view SW/chaplain involvement in care for critically ill children with cancer. Methods: We studied parent perceptions of SW/chaplain involvement in care for pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) patients with cancer or who had a hematopoietic cell transplant. English- and Spanish-speaking parents completed surveys within 7 days of PICU admission and at discharge. Some parents participated in an optional interview. Results: Twenty-four parents of 18 patients completed both surveys, and six parents were interviewed. Of the survey respondents, 66.7% and 75% interacted with SWs or chaplains, respectively. Most parents described SW/chaplain interactions as helpful (81.3% and 72.2%, respectively), but few reported their help with decision making (18.8% and 12.4%, respectively). Parents described SW/chaplain roles related to emotional, spiritual, instrumental, and holistic support. Few parents expressed awareness about SW/chaplain interactions with other healthcare team members. Conclusions: Future work is needed to determine SWs’/chaplains’ contributions to and impact on parental decision making, improve parent awareness about SW/chaplain roles and engagement with the healthcare team, and understand why some PICU parents do not interact with SWs/chaplains.

Physician decision-making process about withholding/withdrawing life-sustaining treatments in paediatric patients: a systematic review of qualitative evidence

Background

With paediatric patients, deciding whether to withhold/withdraw life-sustaining treatments (LST) at the end of life is difficult and ethically sensitive. Little is understood about how and why physicians decide on withholding/withdrawing LST at the end of life in paediatric patients. In this study, we aimed to synthesise results from the literature on physicians’ perceptions about decision-making when dealing with withholding/withdrawing life-sustaining treatments in paediatric patients.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review of empirical qualitative studies. Five electronic databases (Pubmed, Cinahl®, Embase®, Scopus®, Web of Science™) were exhaustively searched in order to identify articles published in English from inception through March 17, 2021. Analysis and synthesis were guided by the Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven.

Results

Thirty publications met our criteria and were included for analysis. Overall, we found that physicians agreed to involve parents, and to a lesser extent, children in the decision-making process about withholding/withdrawing LST. Our analysis to identify conceptual schemes revealed that physicians divided their decision-making into three stages: (1) early preparation via advance care planning, (2) information giving and receiving, and (3) arriving at the final decision. Physicians considered advocating for the best interests of the child and of the parents as their major focus. We also identified moderating factors of decision-making, such as facilitators and barriers, specifically those related to physicians and parents that influenced physicians’ decision-making.

Conclusions

By focusing on stakeholders, structure of the decision-making process, ethical values, and influencing factors, our analysis showed that physicians generally agreed to share the decision-making with parents and the child, especially for adolescents. Further research is required to better understand how to minimise the negative impact of barriers on the decision-making process (e.g., difficult involvement of children, lack of paediatric palliative care expertise, conflict with parents).

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12904-022-01003-5.

Parent perspectives on facilitating decision-making around pediatric home ventilation

RATIONALE

Deciding about pediatric home ventilation is exceptionally challenging for parents. Understanding the decision-making needs of parents who made different choices for their children could inform clinician counseling that better supports parents' diverse values and goals.

OBJECTIVES

To determine how clinicians can meet the decisional needs of parents considering home ventilation using a balanced sample of families who chose for or against intervention.

METHODS

We conducted semi-structured interviews of parents who chose for or against home ventilation for their child within the previous 5 years. Parents were recruited from three academic centers across the United States. Interviews focused on parent-clinician communication during decision-making and how clinicians made the process easier or more difficult. Qualitative analysis was used to generate themes and identify key results.

RESULTS

Thirty-eight parents were interviewed; 20 chose for and 18 chose against home ventilation. Five themes described their perspectives on how clinicians can facilitate high-quality decision-making: demonstrating dedication to families, effectively managing the medical team, introducing the concept of home ventilation with intention, facilitating meaningful conversation about the treatment options, and supporting and respecting the family's decision.

CONCLUSIONS

High-quality decision-making around home ventilation depends on individual clinician actions and the complex operations of large academic settings. Strong working relationships with parents, collaborative alliances with colleagues, and appropriate delivery of key content can help meet the needs of parents considering invasive breathing supports for their children.

The role of religion and spirituality in caregiver decision-making about tracheostomy for children with medical complexity

Children with medical complexity (CMC) receive life-sustaining treatments such as tracheostomy. The objective of this paper is to explore the roles of religion and spirituality (R&S) of caregivers of children with medical complexity (CMC) in their decision to pursue tracheostomy for their children. We conducted 41 in-depth interviews of caregivers of CMC who had received tracheostomies in the prior 5 years. Four themes emerged: (1) Caregivers believed R&S to be powerful for their children's healing, and helped them cope with their children's illnesses; (2) Spirituality was an important factor for caregivers in the decision to pursue tracheostomy for their children; (3) Many caregivers did not discuss their spirituality with clinicians for a variety of reasons; (4) Clergy and hospital chaplains played a major supportive role overall; however, they did not play a significant role in the decision-making process. Our study shows the importance of R&S, and the roles of clergy and chaplains in pediatric tracheostomy decision-making.

Parental Decision-Making in Pediatric Intensive Care: A Concept Analysis

The development of nursing knowledge requires a close relationship between theory, research, and practice. The purpose of the analysis of the concept of "parental decision-making in pediatric critical care" is to facilitate nurses' therapeutic care of critically ill children and their families. To construct, structure, and give meaning to the concept, we use our experience in the field, critical reading of the literature, and careful analysis of data that have emerged about parental decision-making in pediatric intensive care. Several factors affect parent's ability to act as decision-makers: the psychosocial and physical disorders they develop, the subordination of their parental roles by the health care team, and the child's critical state of health. While different disciplines, including nursing, have well described the decision-making concept, parental decision-making in the context of pediatric intensive care has not been as well delineated. Nursing science recognizes the importance of decision-making and has incorporated the concept as an essential domain of its philosophical and disciplinary interests. Following the method proposed by Walker and Avant, the concept was analyzed, attributes, background, and consequences described. A model case was presented and discussed. An operational definition emerges, providing knowledge for professional nursing practice and will be the basis for an essential theoretical development around this phenomenon. Parents' recognition, the promotion of family-centered care, and shared decisions are ideal for encouraging parental participation.

Beyond technology, drips, and machines: Moral distress in PICU nurses caring for end-of-life patients

Moral distress is an experience of profound moral compromise with deeply impactful and potentially long-term consequences to the individual. Critical care areas are fraught with ethical issues, and end-of-life care has been associated with numerous incidences of moral distress among nurses. One such area where the dichotomy of life and death seems to be at its sharpest is in the pediatric intensive care unit. The purpose of this study was to understand the moral distress experiences of pediatric intensive care nurses when caring for pediatric patients at the end of life. A secondary analysis was undertaken of seven transcripts from registered nurses across six Canadian pediatric intensive care units and produced three themes: under prioritization of child patient dignity, burden of insider knowledge, and environmental constraints on nursing roles and responsibilities. When caring for patients at the end of life, nurses experienced moral distress when a dignified death was not realized. Furthermore, despite interprofessional collaboration efforts in Canada, the concept of silo mentality persists and contributes to moral distress. Organizational involvement is needed to address moral distress in pediatric intensive care nurses both to achieve a dignified death for child patients and in addressing silo mentality.

Association of Race with End-of-Life Treatment Preferences in Older Adults with Cancer Receiving Outpatient Palliative Care

Background: End-of-life discussions and documentation of preferences are especially important for older cancer patients who are at high risk of morbidity and mortality. Objective: To evaluate influence of demographic factors such as religiosity, education, income, race, and ethnicity on treatment preferences for end-of-life care. Methods: A retrospective observational study was performed on baseline data from a multisite randomized clinical trial of Dignity Therapy in 308 older cancer patients who were receiving outpatient palliative care (PC). Interviews addressed end-of-life treatment preferences, religion, religiosity and spirituality, and awareness of prognosis. End-of-life treatment preferences for care were examined, including preferences for general treatment, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and mechanical ventilation (MV). Bivariate associations and multiple logistic regression analysis of treatment preferences with demographic and other baseline variables were conducted. Results: Our regression models demonstrated that race was a significant predictor for CPR preference and preferences for MV, although not for general treatment goals. Minority patients were more likely to want CPR and MV than whites. Men were more likely to opt for MV, although not for CPR or overall aggressive treatment, than women. Higher level of education was a significant predictor for preferences for less aggressive care at the end-of-life but not for CPR or MV. Higher level of terminal illness awareness was also a significant predictor for preferences for CPR, but not MV or aggressive care at the end-of-life. Discussion: Race was significantly associated with all three markers for aggressive care in bivariate analysis and with two out of three markers in multiple regression analysis, with minorities preferring aggressive care and whites preferring less aggressive care. Contrary to our hypothesis, income was not significantly associated with treatment preferences, whereas religion was significantly associated with all markers for aggressive care in bivariate models, but not in multiple regression models. Clinical Trial Registration Number NCT03209440.

A Randomized Comparative Trial to Evaluate a PICU Navigator-Based Parent Support Intervention

OBJECTIVES

Communication breakdowns in PICUs contribute to inadequate parent support and poor post-PICU parent outcomes. No interventions supporting communication have demonstrated improvements in parental satisfaction or psychologic morbidity. We compared parent-reported outcomes from parents receiving a navigator-based parent support intervention (PICU Supports) with those from parents receiving an informational brochure.

DESIGN

Patient-level, randomized trial.

SETTING

Two university-based, tertiary-care children's hospital PICUs.

PARTICIPANTS

Parents of patients requiring more than 24 hours in the PICU.

INTERVENTIONS

PICU Supports included adding a trained navigator to the patient's healthcare team. Trained navigators met with parents and team members to assess and address communication, decision-making, emotional, informational, and discharge or end-of-life care needs; offered weekly family meetings; and did a post-PICU discharge parent check-in. The comparator arm received an informational brochure providing information about PICU procedures, terms, and healthcare providers.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

The primary outcome was percentage of "excellent" responses to the Pediatric Family Satisfaction in the ICU 24 decision-making domain obtained 3-5 weeks following PICU discharge. Secondary outcomes included parental psychologic and physical morbidity and perceptions of team communication. We enrolled 382 families: 190 received PICU Supports, and 192 received the brochure. Fifty-seven percent (216/382) completed the 3-5 weeks post-PICU discharge survey. The mean percentage of excellent responses to the Pediatric Family Satisfaction in the ICU 24 decision-making items was 60.4% for PICU Supports versus 56.1% for the brochure (estimate, 3.57; SE, 4.53; 95% CI, -5.77 to 12.90; p = 0.44). Differences in secondary outcomes were not statistically significant. Most parents (91.1%; 113/124) described PICU Supports as "extremely" or "somewhat" helpful.

CONCLUSIONS

Parents who received PICU Supports rated the intervention positively. Differences in decision-making satisfaction scores between those receiving PICU Supports and a brochure were not statistically significant. Interventions like PICU Supports should be evaluated in larger studies employing enhanced recruitment and retention of subjects.

A Quality Improvement Project to Improve Documentation and Awareness of Limitations of Life-Sustaining Therapies

Purpose

Poor documentation and understanding of the limitations of life-sustaining therapies upon admission to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) can result in moral distress for both providers and families. Limitations of life-sustaining treatments are often not documented and/or understood by members of the health care team.

Methods

We performed a quality improvement initiative to improve the care teams' understanding and paper documentation of the limitations of life-sustaining therapies in the PICU of a quaternary children's hospital from January 2018 to March 2019. We implemented a series of plan-do-study-act cycles, including initiation of an updated rounding tool that included limitations of interventions, in-person and electronic information sessions, and implementation of a visual bedside tool to remind providers when limitations were present. Pre- and postintervention surveys were administered.

Results

Nursing paper documentation of limitations of life-sustaining therapies increased sequentially from 0% to 88% during plan-do-study-act cycles. Creating a specific area to document limitations on the nursing sheet resulted in the most significant increase in documentation (36.6 points). Nurses reported that they "always" document limitations, which increased from 10% to 38%. The percentage of nurses who understood patients' intervention limitations increased from 28% to 33%.

Conclusions

Limitations of life-sustaining therapies in the PICU are nuanced and involve multiple stakeholders. Nursing education and designation of a section of intervention limitations in nursing daily goal paper documentation can increase comfort with therapeutic limitations in the PICU. Future studies should explore impacts on patient care and serve as a framework for the ultimate goal of improving documentation of care limitations and code status in the electronic medical record.

Parent moral distress in serious pediatric illness: A dimensional analysis

BACKGROUND

Moral distress is an important and well-studied phenomenon among nurses and other healthcare providers, yet the conceptualization of parental moral distress remains unclear.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this dimensional analysis was to describe the nature of family moral distress in serious pediatric illness.

DESIGN AND METHODS

A dimensional analysis of articles retrieved from a librarian-assisted systematic review of Scopus, CINAHL, and PsychInfo was conducted, focusing on how children, parents, other family members, and healthcare providers describe parental moral distress, both explicitly through writings on parental moral experience and implicitly through writings on parental involvement in distressing aspects of the child's serious illness.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

To promote child and family best interest and minimize harm, a nuanced understanding of the moral, existential, emotional, and spiritual impact of serious pediatric illness is needed. The cases used in this dimensional analysis come from the first author's IRB approved study at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and subsequent published studies; or have been adapted from the literature and the authors' clinical experiences.

FINDINGS

Three dimensions emerged from the literature surrounding parent moral distress: an intrapersonal dimension, an interpersonal dimension, and a spiritual/existential dimension. The overarching theme is that parents experience relational solace and distress because of the impact of their child's illness on relationships with themselves, their children, family, healthcare providers, their surrounding communities, and society.

DISCUSSION

Elucidating this concept can help nurses and other professionals understand, mitigate, or eliminate antecedents to parental moral distress. We discuss how this model can facilitate future empirical and conceptual bioethics research, as well as inform the manner in which healthcare providers engage, collaborate with, and care for families during serious pediatric illness.

CONCLUSION

Parent moral distress is an important and complex phenomenon that requires further theoretical and empirical investigation. We provide an integrated definition and dimensional schematic model that may serve as a starting point for future research and dialogue.

Integration of Pediatric Palliative Care Into Cardiac Intensive Care: A Champion-Based Model

Integration of pediatric palliative care (PPC) into management of children with serious illness and their families is endorsed as the standard of care. Despite this, timely referral to and integration of PPC into the traditionally cure-oriented cardiac ICU (CICU) remains variable. Despite dramatic declines in mortality in pediatric cardiac disease, key challenges confront the CICU community. Given increasing comorbidities, technological dependence, lengthy recurrent hospitalizations, and interventions risking significant morbidity, many patients in the CICU would benefit from PPC involvement across the illness trajectory. Current PPC delivery models have inherent disadvantages, insufficiently address the unique aspects of the CICU setting, place significant burden on subspecialty PPC teams, and fail to use CICU clinician skill sets. We therefore propose a novel conceptual framework for PPC-CICU integration based on literature review and expert interdisciplinary, multi-institutional consensus-building. This model uses interdisciplinary CICU-based champions who receive additional PPC training through courses and subspecialty rotations. PPC champions strengthen CICU PPC provision by (1) leading PPC-specific educational training of CICU staff; (2) liaising between CICU and PPC, improving use of support staff and encouraging earlier subspecialty PPC involvement in complex patients' management; and (3) developing and implementing quality improvement initiatives and CICU-specific PPC protocols. Our PPC-CICU integration model is designed for adaptability within institutional, cultural, financial, and logistic constraints, with potential applications in other pediatric settings, including ICUs. Although the PPC champion framework offers several unique advantages, barriers to implementation are anticipated and additional research is needed to investigate the model's feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy.

Parental Perspectives on Roles in End-of-Life Decision Making in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: An Integrative Review

PROBLEM

Little is known about how parents perceive their role or the role of health care providers (HCPs) during end-of-life decision making (EOL DM) in the context of the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

The authors searched CINAHL, PubMed, Ovid Medline, Web of Science, Social Science Database, PsycINFO, and Google scholar for English language studies performed in the United States related to parental perception of parental or HCP roles in EOL DM in the PICU since 2008.

SAMPLE

Eleven studies of parents and health care providers (HCPs) of critically ill children in the PICU and/or receiving inpatient pediatric palliative care, and bereaved parents of PICU patients.

RESULTS

Most parents reported belief that EOL DM is within the domain of parental role, a minority felt it was a physician's responsibility. Parental EOL DM is rooted more firmly in emotion and perception and a desire to be a 'good parent' to a child at EOL in the way they see fit than HCP recommendations or 'medical facts'. Parents need HCPs to treat them as allies, communicate well, and be trustworthy.

CONCLUSIONS

Role conflict may exist between parents and HCPs who are prioritizing different attributes of the parental role. The role of the nurse in support of parental role in the PICU is not well-elucidated in the extant literature.

IMPLICATIONS

Future research should focus on what parents need from HCPs, especially nurses, to support their parental role, and factors that facilitate the development of trust and good communication.

Rights of the Dying Child: The Nurses' Perception

AIM

The Charter of the Rights of the Dying Child was formulated as a professional guide for caring the child in the final stages. The study examines the nurses' degree of agreement with the Charter's principles and their perception of the implementation of those principles in hospital.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A multicenter, cross-sectional study to observe the nurses' positions about the 10 rights outlined in the Charter, using an online questionnaire in 5 pediatric hospitals in northern Italy.

RESULTS

A total of 119 nurses (44.9%) completed the questionnaire. The majority (range: 86.6-100%) expressed their agreement with the Charter's principles (Likert ≥4). Lower ratings were reported in Charter's principles implementation items (range: 42.9-89.1%). Being older and working in a smaller hospital lead the nurses to overlook the child's right to be informed and to be given the opportunity to make decisions about his/her own life and death (p = 0.02, p < 0.01). Postgraduate training induced greater awareness of the dying child (p = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights the value of the Charter of the Rights of the Dying Child as a reference guideline for nurses working in pediatric hospitals. Better training is important to improve the nurse's communication skills and the pediatric palliative care should be offered to all families that have a child with incurable disease mostly in the end of life.

Exploring the vagueness of Religion & Spirituality in complex pediatric decision-making: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Medical advances have led to new challenges in decision-making for parents of seriously ill children. Many parents say religion and spirituality (R&S) influence their decisions, but the mechanism and outcomes of this influence are unknown. Health care providers (HCPs) often feel unprepared to discuss R&S with parents or address conflicts between R&S beliefs and clinical recommendations. Our study sought to illuminate the influence of R&S on parental decision-making and explore how HCPs interact with parents for whom R&S are important.

METHODS

A longitudinal, qualitative, descriptive design was used to (1) identify R&S factors affecting parental decision-making, (2) observe changes in R&S themes over time, and (3) learn about HCP perspectives on parental R&S. The study sample included 16 cases featuring children with complex life-threatening conditions. The length of study for each case varied, ranging in duration from 8 to 531 days (median = 380, mean = 324, SD = 174). Data from each case included medical records and sets of interviews conducted at least monthly with mothers (n = 16), fathers (n = 12), and HCPs (n = 108). Thematic analysis was performed on 363 narrative interviews to identify R&S themes and content related to decision-making.

RESULTS

Parents from 13 cases reported R&S directly influenced decision-making. Most HCPs were unaware of this influence. Fifteen R&S themes appeared in parent and HCP transcripts. Themes most often associated with decision-making were Hope & Faith, God is in Control, Miracles, and Prayer. Despite instability in the child's condition, these themes remained consistently relevant across the trajectory of illness. R&S influenced decisions about treatment initiation, procedures, and life-sustaining therapy, but the variance in effect of R&S on parents' choices ultimately depended upon other medical & non-medical factors.

CONCLUSIONS

Parents consider R&S fundamental to decision-making, but apply R&S concepts in vague ways, suggesting R&S impact how decisions are made more than what decisions are made. Lack of clarity in parental expressions of R&S does not necessarily indicate insincerity or underestimation of the seriousness of the child's prognosis; R&S can be applied to decision-making in both functional and dysfunctional ways. We present three models of how religious and spiritual vagueness functions in parental decision-making and suggest clinical applications.

Gradually Disengaging: Parent-Health care Provider Relationships After a Child's Death in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

When a child dies in the intensive care unit, many bereaved parents want relationships with their child's health care staff to continue in the form of follow-up care. However, the nature of these relationships and how they change across the parents' bereavement journey is currently unknown. This article explores early and ongoing relationships between parents and health care staff when a child dies in intensive care. Constructivist grounded theory methods were used to recruit 26 bereaved parents from four Australian pediatric intensive care units into the study. Data were collected via audio-recorded, semistructured interviews and analyzed using the constant comparative methods and theoretical memoing. Findings show that these relationships focus on Gradually disengaging, commonly moving through three phases after the child dies: Saying goodbye, Going home, and Seeking supports. These findings provide guidance to health care staff on what families need as they leave the intensive care unit and move through bereavement.

Determinants of Successful eHealth Coaching for Consumer Lifestyle Changes: Qualitative Interview Study Among Health Care Professionals

Background

Success with lifestyle change, such as weight loss, tobacco cessation, and increased activity level, using electronic health (eHealth) has been demonstrated in numerous studies short term. However, evidence on how to maintain the effect long-term has not been fully explored, even though there is a pressing need for long-term solutions. Recent studies indicate that weight loss can be achieved and maintained over 12 and 20 months in a primary care setting using a collaborative eHealth tool. The effect of collaborative eHealth in promoting lifestyle changes depends on competent and skilled dieticians, nurses, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists acting as eHealth coaches. How such health care professionals perceive delivering asynchronous eHealth coaching and which determinants they find to be essential to achieving successful long-term lifestyle coaching have only been briefly explored and deserve further exploration.

Objective

The aim of this study is to analyze how health care professionals perceive eHealth coaching and to explore what influences successful long-term lifestyle change for patients undergoing hybrid eHealth coaching using a collaborative eHealth tool.

Methods

A total of 10 health care professionals were recruited by purposive sampling. They were all women aged 36 to 65 years of age with a mean age of 48 years of age. A total of 8/10 (80%) had more than 15 years of experience in their field, and all had more than six months of experience providing eHealth lifestyle coaching using a combination of face-to-face meetings and asynchronous eHealth coaching. They worked in 5 municipalities in the Region of Southern Denmark. We performed individual, qualitative, semistructured, in-depth interviews in their workplace about their experiences with health coaching about lifestyle change, both for their patients and for themselves, and mainly how they perceived using a collaborative eHealth solution as a part of their work.

Results

The health care professionals all found establishing and maintaining an empathic relationship essential and that asynchronous eHealth lifestyle coaching challenged this compared to face-to-face coaching. The primary reason was that unlike typical in-person encounters in health care, they did not receive immediate feedback from the patients. We identified four central themes relevant to the health care professionals in their asynchronous eHealth coaching: (1) establishing an empathic relationship, (2) reflection in asynchronous eHealth coaching, (3) identifying realistic goals based on personal barriers, and (4) staying connected in asynchronous coaching.

Conclusions

Establishing and maintaining an empathic relationship is probably the most crucial factor for successful subsequent eHealth coaching. It was of paramount importance to get to know the patient first, and the asynchronous interaction aspect presented challenges because of the delay in response times (both ways). It also presented opportunities for reflection before answering. The health care professionals found they had to provide both relational communication and goal-oriented coaching when using eHealth solutions. Going forward, the quality of the health care professional–patient interaction will need attention if patients are to benefit from collaborative eHealth coaching fully.

A Descriptive Study of Decision-Making Conversations during Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Family Conferences

BACKGROUND

Little is known about how decision-making conversations occur during pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) family conferences (FCs).

OBJECTIVE

Describe the decision-making process and implementation of shared decision making (SDM) during PICU FCs.

DESIGN

Observational study.

SETTING/SUBJECTS

University-based tertiary care PICU, including 31 parents and 94 PICU healthcare professionals involved in FCs.

MEASUREMENTS

We recorded, transcribed, and analyzed 14 PICU FCs involving decision-making discussions. We used a modified grounded theory and content analysis approach to explore the use of traditionally described stages of decision making (DM) (information exchange, deliberation, and determining a plan). We also identified the presence or absence of predefined SDM elements.

RESULTS

DM involved the following modified stages: information exchange; information-oriented deliberation; plan-oriented deliberation; and determining a plan. Conversations progressed through stages in a nonlinear manner. For the main decision discussed, all conferences included a presentation of the clinical issues, treatment alternatives, and uncertainty. A minority of FCs included assessing the family's understanding (21%), assessing the family's need for input from others (28%), exploring the family's desired decision-making role (35%), and eliciting the family's opinion (42%).

CONCLUSIONS

In the FCs studied, we found that DM is a nonlinear process. We also found that several SDM elements that could provide information about parents' perspectives and needs did not always occur, identifying areas for process improvement.

Becoming a Team: The Nature of the Parent-Healthcare Provider Relationship when a Child is Dying in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

PURPOSE

To explore bereaved parents' perspectives of parent and staff roles in the pediatric intensive care unit when their child was dying, and their relationships with healthcare staff during this time.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Constructivist grounded theory was used to undertake this study. Semi-structured interviewers were conducted with 26 bereaved parents recruited from four Australian pediatric intensive care units. The constant comparative method, coupled with open, focused, and theoretical coding were used for data analysis.

RESULTS

Becoming a team explores the changes that occurred to the parent-healthcare provider relationship when parents realized their child was dying and attempted to become part of their child's care team. When the focus of care changed from 'life-saving' to 'end-of-life', parents' perspectives and desires of their and the healthcare providers' roles changed. Parents' attempted to reconstruct their roles to match their changing perspectives, which may or may not have been successful, depending on their ability to successfully negotiate these roles with healthcare providers.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings offer insights into parental understandings of both the parental and healthcare provider roles for parents of dying children in intensive care, and the ways in which the parent-healthcare provider relationships can influence and be influenced by changes to these roles.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Successful parent-healthcare provider relationships require an understanding of the parental and healthcare provider role from the parents' perspective. The meanings of the parental and healthcare provider roles should be explored with parents of dying children, and supported as much as possible to enable the development of a collaborative relationship.

Physicians Perceptions of Shared Decision-Making in Neonatal and Pediatric Critical Care

BACKGROUND

Most children die in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units after decisions are made to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatments. These decisions can be challenging when there are different views about the child's best interest and when there is a lack of clarity about how best to also consider the interests of the family.

OBJECTIVE

To understand how neonatal and pediatric critical care physicians balance and integrate the interests of the child and family in decisions about life-sustaining treatments.

METHODS

Semistructured interviews were conducted with 22 physicians from neonatal, pediatric, and cardiothoracic intensive care units in a single quaternary care pediatric hospital. Transcribed interviews were analyzed using content and thematic analysis.

RESULTS

We identified 3 main themes: (1) beliefs about child and family interests; (2) disagreement about the child's best interest; and (3) decision-making strategies, including limiting options, being directive, staying neutral, and allowing parents to come to their own conclusions. Physicians described challenges to implementing shared decision-making including unequal power and authority, clinical uncertainty, and complexity of balancing child and family interests. They acknowledged determining the level of engagement in shared decision-making with parents (vs routine engagement) based on their perceptions of the best interests of the child and parent.

CONCLUSIONS

Due to power imbalances, families' values and preferences may not be integrated in decisions or families may be excluded from discussions about goals of care. We suggest that a systematic approach to identify parental preferences and needs for decisional roles and information may reduce variability in parental involvement.

Involvement of nurses in end-of-life discussions for severely disabled children

BACKGROUND

In children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD), discussions about end-of-life decisions (EoLDs) are comparatively common. Nurses play a crucial role in the care for these children, yet their involvement in EoLD discussions is largely unknown. The objective of this research was to investigate the involvement in the hospital of nurses in discussions with parents and physicians about EoLDs for children with PIMD.

METHOD

In a retrospective, qualitative study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with the nurses of 12 children with PIMD for whom an EoLD was made within the past 2 years.

RESULTS

Parents primarily discuss EoLDs with nurses before and after the meeting with the physician. Nurses who were involved in EoL discussions with parents and physicians assisted them by giving factual information about the child and by providing emotional support. Some nurses, especially nurses from ID-care services, were not involved in EoL discussions, even if they had cared for the child for a long period of time. Some of the nurses had moral or religious objections to carrying out the decisions.

CONCLUSION

Most nurses were not involved in EoL discussions with parents and physicians in the hospital. Excluding nurses from EoL discussions can cause them moral distress. The involvement of nurses in EoL discussions for children with PIMD should be improved, especially by involving nurses from ID-care services. Because these nurses are usually familiar with the child, they can be valuable sources of information about the child's quality of life.

Welcoming expertise: Bereaved parents' perceptions of the parent-healthcare provider relationship when a critically ill child is admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit

BACKGROUND

Entering the paediatric intensive care unit with a critically ill child is a stressful experience for parents. In addition to fearing for their child's well-being, parents must navigate both a challenging environment and numerous new relationships with healthcare staff. How parents form relationships with staff and how they perceive both their own and the healthcare providers' roles in this early stage of their paediatric intensive care journey is currently unknown.

PURPOSE

This paper explores bereaved parents' perceptions of their role and their relationships with healthcare providers when their child is admitted to the intensive care unit, as part of a larger study exploring their experiences when their child dies in intensive care.

METHODS

A constructivist grounded theory approach was utilised to recruit 26 bereaved parents from 4 Australian intensive care units. Parents participated in audio-recorded, semi-structured interviews lasting 90-150min. All data were analysed using the constant comparative analysis processes, supported by theoretical memos.

RESULTS

Upon admission, parents viewed healthcare providers as experts, both of their child's medical care and of the hospital system. This expertise was welcomed, with the parent-healthcare provider relationship developing around the child's need for medical care. Parents engaged in 2 key behaviours in their relationships with staff: prioritising survival, and learning 'the system'. Within each of these behaviours are several subcategories, including 'Stepping back', 'Accepting restrictions' and 'Deferring to medical advice'.

CONCLUSIONS

The relationships between parents and staff shift and change across the child's admission and subsequent death in the paediatric intensive care unit. However, upon admission, this relationship centres around the child's potential survival and their need for medical care, and the parent's recognition of the healthcare staff as experts of both the child's care and the hospital system.

Challenges to code status discussions for pediatric patients

Objectives

In the context of serious or life-limiting illness, pediatric patients and their families are faced with difficult decisions surrounding appropriate resuscitation efforts in the event of a cardiopulmonary arrest. Code status orders are one way to inform end-of-life medical decision making. The objectives of this study are to evaluate the extent to which pediatric providers have knowledge of code status options and explore the association of provider role with (1) knowledge of code status options, (2) perception of timing of code status discussions, (3) perception of family receptivity to code status discussions, and (4) comfort carrying out code status discussions.

Design

Nurses, trainees (residents and fellows), and attending physicians from pediatric units where code status discussions typically occur completed a short survey questionnaire regarding their knowledge of code status options and perceptions surrounding code status discussions.

Setting

Single center, quaternary care children’s hospital.

Measurements and main results

203 nurses, 31 trainees, and 29 attending physicians in 4 high-acuity pediatric units responded to the survey (N = 263, 90% response rate). Based on an objective knowledge measure, providers demonstrate poor understanding of available code status options, with only 22% of providers able to enumerate more than two of four available code status options. In contrast, provider groups self-report high levels of familiarity with available code status options, with attending physicians reporting significantly higher levels than nurses and trainees (p = 0.0125). Nurses and attending physicians show significantly different perception of code status discussion timing, with majority of nurses (63.4%) perceiving discussions as occurring “too late” or “much too late” and majority of attending physicians (55.6%) perceiving the timing as “about right” (p<0.0001). Attending physicians report significantly higher comfort having code status discussions with families than do nurses or trainees (p≤0.0001). Attending physicians and trainees perceive families as more receptive to code status discussions than nurses (p<0.0001 and p = 0.0018, respectively).

Conclusions

Providers have poor understanding of code status options and differ significantly in their comfort having code status discussions and their perceptions of these discussions. These findings may reflect inherent differences among providers, but may also reflect discordant visions of appropriate care and function as a potential source of moral distress. Lack of knowledge of code status options and differences in provider perceptions are likely barriers to quality communication surrounding end-of-life options.

Ethical Considerations for Care of the Child Undergoing Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a complex, highly technical surgical procedure that can offer hope for children born with congenital heart defects. The procedure may only briefly prolong a life, has limited potential for decreasing mortality, and may lead to serious complications, however. Perioperative nurses play an important role in caring for the child who requires ECMO. They are involved in assessing the child, implementing the plan of care, and facilitating communication between the child's family members and the health care team. Thus, perioperative nurses have a responsibility to consider the broad range of ethical issues associated with the procedure. By examining the ethical concepts of beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, justice, and moral distress, the perioperative nurse can better understand the dilemmas that can affect the care and outcome of the critically ill child who requires ECMO.

End-of-Life and Bereavement Care in Pediatric Intensive Care Units

Most childhood deaths in the United States occur in hospitals. Pediatric intensive care clinicians must anticipate and effectively treat dying children's pain and suffering and support the psychosocial and spiritual needs of families. These actions may help family members adjust to their loss, particularly bereaved parents who often experience reduced mental and physical health. Candid and compassionate communication is paramount to successful end-of-life (EOL) care as is creating an environment that fosters meaningful family interaction. EOL care in the pediatric intensive care unit is associated with challenging ethical issues, of which clinicians must maintain a sound and working understanding.

Professional Responsibility, Consensus, and Conflict: A Survey of Physician Decisions for the Chronically Critically Ill in Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Units

OBJECTIVE

To describe neonatologist and pediatric intensivist attitudes and practices relevant to high-stakes decisions for children with chronic critical illness, with particular attention to physician perception of professional duty to seek treatment team consensus and to disclose team conflict.

DESIGN

Self-administered online survey.

SETTING

U.S. neonatal ICUs and PICUs.

SUBJECTS

Neonatologists and pediatric intensivists.

INTERVENTIONS

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

We received 652 responses (333 neonatologists, denominator unknown; 319 of 1,290 pediatric intensivists). When asked about guiding a decision for tracheostomy in a chronically critically ill infant, only 41.7% of physicians indicated professional responsibility to seek a consensus decision, but 73.3% reported, in practice, that they would seek consensus and make a consensus-based recommendation; the second most common practice (15.5%) was to defer to families without making recommendations. When presented with conflict among the treatment team, 63% of physicians indicated a responsibility to be transparent about the decision-making process and reported matching practices. Neonatologists more frequently reported a responsibility to give decision making fully over to families; intensivists were more likely to seek out consensus among the treatment team.

CONCLUSIONS

ICU physicians do not agree about their responsibilities when approaching difficult decisions for chronically critically ill children. Although most physicians feel a professional responsibility to provide personal recommendations or defer to families, most physicians report offering consensus recommendations. Nearly all physicians embrace a sense of responsibility to disclose disagreement to families. More research is needed to understand physician responsibilities for making recommendations in the care of chronically critically ill children.

Elements of Family-Centered Care in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: An Integrative Review

This paper reports result from a systematic search and thematic analysis of qualitative literature to identify key issues related to family-centered care, behaviors, and communication skills that support the parental role and improve patient and family outcomes in the PICU. Five themes were identified: 1) sharing information; 2) hearing parental voices; 3) making decisions for or with parents; 4) negotiating roles; and 5) individualizing communication. These themes highlight several gaps between how parents want to be involved and perceive clinicians engage them in the care of their child. Parental preferences for involvement differ in the domains of information sharing, decision making, and power-sharing across a spectrum of parental roles from parents as care provider to care recipient. The PICU setting may place clinicians in a double bind trying to both engage families and protect them from distress. Asking families of critically ill children about their preferences for participation across these domains may improve clinician-family relationships.

Caring for Pediatric Patients' Families at the Child's End of Life

Nurses play an important role in supporting families who are faced with the critical illness and death of their child. Grieving families desire compassionate, sensitive care that respects their wishes and meets their needs. Families often wish to continue relationships and maintain lasting connections with hospital staff following their child's death. A structured bereavement program that supports families both at the end of their child's life and throughout their grief journey can meet this need.

Parent Perceptions of How Nurse Encounters Can Provide Caring Support for the Family in Early Acute Care After Children's Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

OBJECTIVE

A child's severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) creates a family crisis requiring extensive cultural, informational, psychological, and environmental support. Nurses need to understand parents' expectations of caring in early acute care so they can tailor their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors appropriately to accommodate the family's needs.

METHODS

In a previous qualitative study of 42 parents or caregivers from 37 families of children with moderate-to-severe TBI, parents of children with severe TBI (n = 25) described their appraisals of nurse caring and uncaring behaviors in early acute care. Swanson's theory of caring was used to categorize parents' descriptions to inform nursing early acute care practices and family-centered care.

RESULTS

Caring nurse encounters included (a) involving parents in the care of their child and reflecting on all sociocultural factors shaping family resources and responses (knowing); (b) respecting that family grief can be co-mingled with resilience and that parents are typically competent to be involved in decision making (maintaining belief); (d) actively listening and engaging parents to fully understand family values and needs (being with); (e) decreasing parents' workload to get information and emotional support and provide a safe cultural, psychological, and physical environment for the family (doing for); and (f) providing anticipatory guidance to navigate the early acute care system and giving assistance to learn and adjust to their situation (enabling).

CONCLUSION

Application of Swanson's caring theory is prescriptive in helping individual nurses and early acute care systems to meet important family needs after children's severe TBI.

Religion and Spiritual Care in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: Parental Attitudes Regarding Physician Spiritual and Religious Inquiry

OBJECTIVE

Parents of seriously ill children require attention to their spiritual needs, especially during end-of-life care. The objective of this study was to characterize parental attitudes regarding physician inquiry into their belief system. Materials and Main Results: A total of 162 surveys from parents of children hospitalized for >48 hours in pediatric intensive care unit in a tertiary academic medical center were analyzed. Forty-nine percent of all respondents and 62% of those who identified themselves as moderate to very spiritual or religious stated that their beliefs influenced the decisions they made about their child's medical care. Although 34% of all respondents would like their physician to ask about their spiritual or religious beliefs, 48% would desire such enquiry if their child was seriously ill. Those who identified themselves as moderate to very spiritual or religious were most likely to welcome the discussion ( P < .001). Two-thirds of the respondents would feel comforted to know that their child's physician prayed for their child. One-third of all respondents would feel very comfortable discussing their beliefs with a physician, whereas 62% would feel very comfortable having such discussions with a chaplain.

CONCLUSION

The study findings suggest parental ambivalence when it comes to discussing their spiritual or religious beliefs with their child's physicians. Given that improved understanding of parental spiritual and religious beliefs may be important in the decision-making process, incorporation of the expertise of professional spiritual care providers may provide the optimal context for enhanced parent-physician collaboration in the care of the critically ill child.

The Process and Impact of Stakeholder Engagement in Developing a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Communication and Decision-Making Intervention

Stakeholder-developed interventions are needed to support pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) communication and decision-making. Few publications delineate methods and outcomes of stakeholder engagement in research. We describe the process and impact of stakeholder engagement on developing a PICU communication and decision-making support intervention. We also describe the resultant intervention. Stakeholders included parents of PICU patients, healthcare team members (HTMs), and research experts. Through a year-long iterative process, we involved 96 stakeholders in 25 meetings and 26 focus groups or interviews. Stakeholders adapted an adult navigator model by identifying core intervention elements and then determining how to operationalize those core elements in pediatrics. The stakeholder input led to PICU-specific refinements, such as supporting transitions after PICU discharge and including ancillary tools. The resultant intervention includes navigator involvement with parents and HTMs and navigator-guided use of ancillary tools. Subsequent research will test the feasibility and efficacy of our intervention.

Clinical Nurse Participation at Family Conferences in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

BACKGROUND

Clinical nurses attend family conferences in the intensive care unit, but their role during these meetings is not yet fully understood.

OBJECTIVES

To assess perceived and observed contributions of the clinical nurse during family conferences.

METHODS

Prospective cross-sectional survey and review of 40 audio-recorded family conferences conducted in the 44-bed pediatric intensive care unit of an urban pediatric hospital.

RESULTS

Survey responses from 47 nurses were examined. Most nurses thought it important to attend family conferences, but identified workload as a barrier to attendance. They perceived their roles as gaining firsthand knowledge of the discussion and providing a unique perspective regarding patient care, emotional support, and advocacy. Audio recordings revealed that bedside nurses attended 20 (50%) of 40 family conferences and spoke in 5 (25%) of the 20. Nurses verbally contributed 4.6% to the overall speech at the family conference, mostly providing information on patient care.

CONCLUSIONS

The clinical nurse is often absent or silent during family conferences in the intensive care unit, despite the important roles they want to play in these settings. Strategies to improve both the physical and verbal participation of clinical nurses during the family conference are suggested, especially in the context of previous research demonstrating the need for more attention in family conferences to social-emotional support and patient advocacy.

Please Do Whatever It Takes to End Our Daughter's Suffering!

What is the best way to care for a child with severe neurologic impairment who seems to be dying and is in intractable pain? Can we give sedation as we remove life support? Is it ethically permissible to hasten death? In the United States, 5 states have legalized assisted suicide (although only for competent adults). In Belgium and the Netherlands, euthanasia is legal for children under some circumstances. We present a case in which parents and doctors face difficult decisions about palliative care. Experts from Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United States then discuss how they would respond to such a case.

Limitations in the approach health caregivers can take in end-of-life care decisions

BACKGROUND

In the terminal stages of neuro-metabolic diseases, parents can begin to experience a sense of loss even before the child dies, and might accept death prematurely.

CASES

A 2.5-year-old female patient with Sandoff Disease (diagnosed at 9 months of age), and a 17-month-old male Krabbe patient (diagnosed at 5 months of age) were admitted to the hospital with hypernatraemic dehydration and bronchopneumonia, respectively, within 10 days of each other. Both patients developed respiratory arrest short after admission and were supported with mechanical ventilation. Both families gave written consent to end life support, but their wishes could not be accepted according to Turkish law.

CONCLUSIONS

Specialists are expected to communicate well with families and give continuous care while respecting the opinions of patients' families on the timing of the withdrawal of life support. However, ethical and legal regulations on the conduct of health care professionals in these circumstances are unclear in Turkey and should be developed rapidly.

Family Experience and PICU Death: A Meta-Synthesis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

The PICU is the most common site for inpatient pediatric deaths worldwide. The impact of this clinical context on family experiences of their child's death is unclear. The objective of the study was to review and synthesize the best available evidence exploring the family experience of the death of their child in the PICU.

METHODS

Studies were retrieved from CINAHL Plus, OVID Medline, Scopus, PsycINFO, and Embase. Gray literature was retrieved from greylit.com, opengrey.edu, Trove, Worldcat, and Google scholar. Study selection was undertaken by 4 reviewers by using a multistep screening process, based on a previously developed protocol (International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews 2015:CRD42015017463). Data was extracted as first-order constructs (direct quotes) or second-order constructs (author interpretations) onto a predeveloped extraction tool. Data were analyzed by thematic synthesis.

RESULTS

One main theme and 3 subthemes emerged. "Reclaiming parenthood" encompasses the ways in which the parental role is threatened when a child is dying in the PICU, with the subthemes "Being a parent in the PICU," "Being supported," and "Parenting after death" elucidating the ways parents work to reclaim this role. The review is limited by a language bias, and by the limitations of the primary studies.

CONCLUSIONS

When a child dies in a PICU, many aspects of the technology, environment, and staff actions present a threat to the parental role both during and after the child's death. Reclaiming this role requires support from health care providers and the wider community.

What parents want from doctors in end-of-life decision-making for children

OBJECTIVE

End-of-life decision-making is difficult for everyone involved, as many studies have shown. Within this complexity, there has been little information on how parents see the role of doctors in end-of-life decision-making for children. This study aimed to examine parents' views and experiences of end-of-life decision-making.

DESIGN

A qualitative method with a semistructured interview design was used.

SETTING

Parent participants were living in the community.

PARTICIPANTS

Twenty-five bereaved parents.

MAIN OUTCOMES

Parents reported varying roles taken by doctors: being the provider of information without opinion; giving information and advice as to the decision that should be taken; and seemingly being the decision maker for the child. The majority of parents found their child's doctor enabled them to be the ultimate decision maker for their child, which was what they very clearly wanted to be, and consequently enabled them to exercise their parental autonomy. Parents found it problematic when doctors took over decision-making. A less frequently reported, yet significant role for doctors was to affirm decisions after they had been made by parents. Other important aspects of the doctor's role were to provide follow-up support and referral.

CONCLUSIONS

Understanding the role that doctors take in end-of-life decisions, and the subsequent impact of that role from the perspective of parents can form the basis of better informed clinical practice.

Tracheostomies and assisted ventilation in children with profound disabilities: navigating family and professional values

Parental requests for gastrostomies, tracheostomies, or assisted ventilation in children with profound disabilities raise ethical concerns about children's interests, parental decision-making, and health care costs. The underlying concern for many relates to the perceived value of these children. Clinicians should make efforts to appreciate the family's perspective regarding children with profound disabilities who require respiratory and nutritional medical support. Finding opportunities to learn about the family members' lives outside of the health care setting may facilitate a deeper understanding of what it means to live with a child who has profound disabilities. In conversations with families, referring to interventions as futile and conditions as lethal will obscure the value-based nature of these decisions. Respiratory and nutritional interventions are not clearly against the interests of most children. Even for children with a limited life span, life-sustaining interventions may be important for the child and family. Health care costs are a serious societal issue; however, the costs associated with profound disabilities are not the most significant contributor. Societal decisions not to provide life-sustaining health care to children with profound disabilities would require a public process. Clinicians may have personal views regarding decisions for their own family or for their vision for society. However, clinicians have professional obligations to families who have different values. It is important to present balanced information and support parental decision-making so parents may decide to forgo or use life-sustaining interventions according to their values and goals.