Child's Hospitalization (child + hospitalization)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Emotional and informational support for families during their child's illness

INTERNATIONAL NURSING REVIEW, Issue 3 2006
A. Sarajärvi rn
Purpose:, To describe and compare the support provided by nursing staff to families during their child's illness from the viewpoint of families and nurses. Method:, A survey method was used. Data were collected by questionnaires planned for families and staff separately. The study population consisted of families who visited paediatric outpatient clinics, families with hospitalized children (n = 344) and the paediatric nursing staff (n = 60). Findings:, Almost half of the families had received adequate emotional and informational support from the nursing staff for their physical and psychological reactions. One-fifth of the families reported that they had not been supported at all during the child's hospitalization. According to families and nurses, the support was provided in the forms of discussion, listening and giving time. Implications for practice:, Families' and nurses' suggestions for development of support were related to the time resources of the staff, to the flow of information, to more client-centred attitudes, to being appreciated and listened to and to home care guidance. However, the pervasiveness of this problem in the international literature suggests that deeper consideration of possible underlying reasons for this phenomenon is called for. [source]


Decision-making during hospitalization: parents' and children's involvement

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 3 2004
Inger Hallström RN
Background., Ethical duties of health professionals include the obligation to enhance their patients' competence and ability to participate. Aims and objectives., To explore what kind of decisions and how these decisions were made during a child's hospitalization. Design., During a 9-week period 24 children and their parents were followed during the course of events at the hospital. In total 135 hours of observations were made and analysed in two steps. Results., In most of the situations one or both parents were present with the child. Most decisions were of a medical nature, and commonly decisions were made in consultation with those affected by the decision. Although one or more persons protested in 83 of the 218 described situations, decisions were seldom reconsidered. Conclusions., The children and their parents were usually involved in the decision-making process. Children and parents made few decisions themselves and even if they disagreed with the decision made, few decisions were reconsidered. Relevance to clinical practice., Having a voice in decision-making helps the child to develop a sense of himself as a person and gives the parents a feeling that they are part of a team giving their child optimal care during hospitalization. Promoting children's rights is one of the most important roles for the children's nurse. [source]


Afraid in the hospital: Parental concern for errors during a child's hospitalization,,§

JOURNAL OF HOSPITAL MEDICINE, Issue 9 2009
Beth A. Tarini MD
Abstract OBJECTIVE: (1) To determine the proportion of parents concerned about medical errors during a child's hospitalization; and (2) the association between this concern and parental self-efficacy with physician interactions. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Tertiary care children's hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Parents of children admitted to the general medical service. OUTCOME MEASURE: Parental concern about medical errors. METHODS: Parents were asked their agreement with the statement "When my child is in the hospital I feel that I have to watch over the care that he/she is receiving to make sure that mistakes aren't made." We used multivariate logistic regression to examine the association between parents' self-efficacy with physician interactions and the need "to watch over a child's care," adjusting for parent and child demographics, English proficiency, past hospitalization, and social desirability bias. RESULTS: Of 278 eligible parents, 130 completed surveys and 63% reported the need to watch over their child's care to ensure that mistakes were not made. Parents with greater self-efficacy with physician interactions were less likely to report this need (odds ratio [OR], 0.83; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.72-0.92). All parents who were "very uncomfortable" communicating with doctors in English reported the need to watch over their child's care to prevent mistakes. CONCLUSIONS: Nearly two-thirds of surveyed parents felt the need to watch over their child's hospital care to prevent mistakes. Parents with greater self-efficacy with physician interactions were less likely to report the need to watch over their child's care while parents with lower English proficiency were more likely to report this need. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2009;4:521,527. © 2009 Society of Hospital Medicine. [source]