Efficacy and safety of a hyperoxygenated fatty acid compound in improving the microcirculation of purpura fulminans in paediatric patients with sepsis: a pilot study

INTRODUCTION

Purpura fulminans (PF) is a serious complication of sepsis resulting from a set of alterations characterised by the development of ecchymotic haemorrhagic lesions and skin necrosis.

AIM

To analyse the efficacy and safety of the topical application of HOFA compound, in the cutaneous microcirculation of PF lesions in paediatric patients affected by sepsis.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A prospective quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test single-group conducted in a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit of a third level hospital was performed. Paediatric patients aged 0-18 years with sepsis were included. Somatic oximetry values were measured before and after application of HOFAs every 4h over the first three days of the patients' hospitalisation. Patient's socio-demographic and clinical variables and somatic oximetry by placing a sensor for measuring tissue perfusion on the area with PF were determined.

RESULTS

Four patients were recruited, with a median age of 98 months. The purpuric lesions measured were mainly located on both feet and hands and, in two patients, also on the lateral malleoli and calves of both lower extremities. A total of 225 measurements were obtained, with mean pre-intervention scores of 71.17±15.65% versus 73.68±14.83% post-intervention. Statistical significance (p<0.001) was observed upon comparison of the pre- and post-intervention measurements.

CONCLUSIONS

Early and continued application of HOFAs in the management of sepsis-induced PF is an effective and safe practice in the cases analysed. In more than half of the episodes analysed, an increase in tissue microcirculation was observed after the application of HOFAs, with no adverse events.

Multicenter study. Nursing professionals' perception of training needs in pain assessment in pediatric patients with cognitive dysfunction

INTRODUCTION

Pediatric patients with cognitive dysfunction are at greater risk of pain than typically developing children. Pain assessment in these patients is complex and could generate uncertainty in health professionals about what the key aspects are.

AIM

To determine the training needs perceived by nursing professionals regarding acute pain assessment in pediatric patients with cognitive dysfunction.

METHODS

A descriptive, cross-sectional, and multicenter study was performed using a survey addressed to nursing professionals who work in pediatrics during the months of August and September 2022.

RESULTS

163 responses were obtained. Most of the professionals who responded were female (92.6%, n = 151), with a mean age of 38.98 ± 10.40 years. The most frequent work unit was the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), in 36% (n = 58). Most of the participants reported not having previously received training on pain assessment in pediatric patients with cognitive disabilities (85.9%, n = 139). However, 70.4% (n = 114) considered it "very necessary" for the development of their work to receive specific training on this topic. Knowing how to assess acute pain in this population (85.3%, n = 139) and knowing the clinical and behavioral manifestations of pain in this type of patient (84.7%, n = 138) were the aspects that obtained higher scores.

CONCLUSION

This research notes more than 90% of participants consider "quite necessary" and "strong necessary" to be training in pediatric cognitive dysfunction patients pain assessment. Furthermore, work experience, academic education and to be pediatric specialist obtain statistical significance data.

Efficacy of a theoretical and practical programme to newly hired nursing personnel in a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit: A pilot study

AIMS

(1) to design a training programme for newly hired nursing personnel and (2) to determine self-perception and perceived stress before and after the theoretical and practical parts of the programme with high fidelity simulation activities.

METHODS

A pilot quasi-experimental pretest-posttest study without control group conducted in a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit from October 2018 to April 2019 was conducted. A newly hired nursing personnel training programme was first designed and delivered. Later, the participants' self-perception was assessed, as well as their perceived stress and grade of satisfaction using two different Likert scales.

RESULTS

A total of 20 newly hired nurses participated in the study, 90% (n = 18) were female with a median age of 25.5 ± 4.53 years. Higher scores were obtained in participants' self-perception before and after the theoretical training. Lower significant median scores of the participants' stress perception were found (6.9 ± 1.57 versus 5.6 ± 1.794). In the practical part of the programme, we obtained higher scores in all items, as well as lower median scores in stress perception (6.4 ± 1.73 versus 5.6 ± 1.93).

CONCLUSIONS

A theoretical and practical programme for newly hired nursing personnel in a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit improved participants' self-perception and reduced their perceived median scores in stress levels.

Specificity and sensibility of the Spanish version of the COMFORT Behaviour Scale for assessing pain, grade of sedation and withdrawal syndrome in the critically ill paediatric patient. Multicentre COSAIP study (Phase 1)

AIM

The main aim of this investigation was to analyse the specificity and sensibility of the COMFORT Behaviour Scale (CBS-S) in assessing grade of pain, sedation, and withdrawal syndrome in paediatric critical care patients.

METHOD

An observational, analytical, cross-sectional and multicentre study conducted in Level III Intensive Care Areas of 5 children's university hospitals. Grade of sedation was assessed using the Spanish version of the CBS-S and the Bispectral Index on sedation, once per shift over one day. Grade of withdrawal was determined using the CBS-S and the Withdrawal Assessment Tool-1, once per shift over three days.

RESULTS

A total of 261 critically ill paediatric patients with a median age of 5.07 years (P25:0.9-P75:11.7) were included in this study. In terms of the predictive capacity of the CBS-S, it obtained a Receiver Operation Curve of .84 (sensitivity of 81% and specificity of 76%) in relation to pain; .62 (sensitivity of 21% and specificity of 78%) in relation to sedation grade, and .73% (sensitivity of 40% and specificity of 74%) in determining withdrawal syndrome.

CONCLUSIONS

The Spanish version of the COMFORT Behaviour Scale could be a useful, sensible and easy scale to assess the degree of pain, sedation and pharmacological withdrawal of critically ill paediatric patients.

Analysis of how nurses cope facing the death of a paediatric patient

AIMS

To evaluate how nurses cope with the death of a paediatric patient, relate it to the different sociodemographic variables, and to describe personal coping strategies used by nurses in managing the process and accepting the death of the patient.

METHODOLOGY

An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study, carried out from January to June 2018 with nurses from the palliative care area, intensive care unit, neonatology and oncohaematology area of a tertiary paediatric hospital in Barcelona city. An ad hoc questionnaire was applied, divided into three parts: socio-demographic data, the Bugen Scale of coping with death and two open questions.

RESULTS

31.37% of the respondents faced the process of death of the paediatric patient adequately, while 33.33% did not cope well. The best coping was in paediatric palliative care, followed by paediatric oncohaematology, neonatology and, finally, the intensive care unit. In addition, the variables related to this coping are the work shift, the death of a loved one in less than 3 years and previous training. On the other hand, the age of the respondents, experience in the unit and having children are not related to coping. Moreover, the professionals surveyed demand more training to improve their coping in this area, as well as interdisciplinary sessions to discuss cases of deceased patients.

Specificity and sensibility of the Spanish version of the COMFORT Behaviour Scale for assessing pain, grade of sedation and withdrawal syndrome in the critically ill paediatric patient. Multicentre COSAIP study (Phase 1)

AIM

The main aim of this investigation was to analyse the specificity and sensibility of the COMFORT Behaviour Scale (CBS-S) in assessing grade of pain, sedation, and withdrawal syndrome in paediatric critical care patients.

METHOD

An observational, analytical, cross-sectional and multicentre study conducted in Level III Intensive Care Areas of 5 children's university hospitals. Grade of sedation was assessed using the Spanish version of the CBS-S and the Bispectral Index on sedation, once per shift over one day. Grade of withdrawal was determined using the CBS-S and the Withdrawal Assessment Tool-1, once per shift over three days.

RESULTS

A total of 261 critically ill paediatric patients with a median age of 5.07 years (P25:0.9-P75:11.7) were included in this study. In terms of the predictive capacity of the CBS-S, it obtained a Receiver Operation Curve of .84 (sensitivity of 81% and specificity of 76%) in relation to pain; .62 (sensitivity of 21% and specificity of 78%) in relation to sedation grade, and .73% (sensitivity of 40% and specificity of 74%) in determining withdrawal syndrome.

CONCLUSIONS

The Spanish version of the COMFORT Behaviour Scale could be a useful, sensible and easy scale to assess the degree of pain, sedation and pharmacological withdrawal of critically ill paediatric patients.

Grade of sedation in the critically ill paediatric patient and its correlation with sociodemographic and clinical variables. Multicentre COSAIP study

AIMS

To determine the grade of sedation in the critically ill paediatric patient using Biespectral Index Sensor (BIS) and to analyse its relationship with sociodemographic and clinical patient variables.

METHODS

Observational, analytical, cross-sectional and multicentre study performed from May 2018 to January 2020 in 5 Spanish paediatric critical care units. Sex, age, reason for admission, presence of a chronic pathology, type and number of drugs and length of stay were the sociodemographic and clinical variables registered. Furthermore, the grade of sedation was assessed using BIS, 11per shift over 24hours.

RESULTS

A total of 261 paediatric patients, 53.64% of whom were male, with a median age of 1.61 years (0.35-6.55), were included in the study. Of the patients, 70.11% (n=183) were under analgosedation and monitored using the BIS sensor. A median of BIS values of 51.24±14.96 during the morning and 50.75±15.55 during the night were observed. When comparing BIS values and sociodemographic and clinical paediatric variables no statistical significance was detected.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite the limitations of the BIS, investigations and the present study show that BIS could be a useful instrument to assess grade of sedation in critically ill paediatric patients. However, further investigations which determine the sociodemographic and clinical variables involved in the grade of paediatric analgosedation, as well as studies that contrast the efficacy of clinical scales like the COMFORT Behaviour Scale-Spanish version, are required.

Validity of contents of a paediatric critical comfort scale using mixed methodology

INTRODUCTION

Critical illness in paediatric patients includes acute conditions in a healthy child as well as exacerbations of chronic disease, and therefore these situations must be clinically managed in Critical Care Units. The role of the paediatric nurse is to ensure the comfort of these critically ill patients. To that end, instruments are required that correctly assess critical comfort.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the process for validating the content of a paediatric critical comfort scale using mixed-method research.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Initially, a cross-cultural adaptation of the Comfort Behavior Scale from English to Spanish using the translation and back-translation method was made. After that, its content was evaluated using mixed method research. This second step was divided into a quantitative stage in which an ad hoc questionnaire was used in order to assess each scale's item relevance and wording and a qualitative stage with two meetings with health professionals, patients and a family member following the Delphi Method recommendations.

RESULTS

All scale items obtained a content validity index >0.80, except physical movement in its relevance, which obtained 0.76. Global content scale validity was 0.87 (high). During the qualitative stage, items from each of the scale domains were reformulated or eliminated in order to make the scale more comprehensible and applicable.

CONCLUSIONS

The use of a mixed-method research methodology during the scale content validity phase allows the design of a richer and more assessment-sensitive instrument.