Provider Support of Distressed Families in the PICU

The rates of severe anxiety symptoms in parents following their child’s admission to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) are about 24%, along with 51% experiencing symptoms of major depression and 26% experiencing symptoms of decisional conflict (Stremler, Haddad, Pullenayegum, & Parshuram); therefore, it is essential that the hospital staff is trained to execute ways to support these families in distress. The present study sought to evaluate how PICU providers perceive strategies to support distressed families, so researchers interviewed 37 attending physicians and nurse practitioners working in the PICU at Children’s Wisconsin, prompting them to complete a questionnaire about 8 strategies to support distressed families (listening to their concerns, evaluating their psychosocial needs, making a referral to behavioral health services, etc.); they rated both their perceived importance and their confidence in performing these strategies. Using SPSS, we performed a descriptive statistical analysis of the providers’ responses. Of the participating providers, 86-89% found it very important to ensure families fully understand information provided to them and to individualize families’ communication based on their needs and preferences. Furthermore, 68% of providers found it very important to evaluate families’ psychosocial needs and to coordinate efforts to fulfill those needs, yet 35% felt only slightly confident in doing so and 8% felt not at all confident. These results imply that although providers recognize strategies necessary for supporting families, many of them need additional education and training for evaluating psychosocial needs and fulfilling them, making referrals to behavioral health services, and partnering with families to negotiate the role they want to play in their child’s care