Center for Advanced Practice
Title
Parental Decision-Making in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: An Integrative Review.
Publication Title
J Fam Nurs
Document Type
Article
PubMed ID
33523765
Abstract
Parents are commonly responsible for making health care decisions for their seriously ill children in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU); however, the factors influencing their decisions may vary. This integrative review examined the empirical literature between 2013 and 2018 to understand factors pertaining to parents' decision-making about serious illness care of their children in the PICU. Seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria with three key findings. First, parent-clinician communication in the PICU is critical; second, most parents want to be the final decision-maker for their critically ill child; and third, parents' emotions, support systems, and the child's clinical status impact decision-making. Parental perspectives are important to consider when discussing serious illness care decisions for critically ill children. Further inquiry is needed into how the parent-clinician encounter impacts the decision-making process and subsequent outcomes in this population.
Keywords
Child, Communication, Critical Illness, Decision Making, Humans, Intensive Care Units, Pediatric, Parents
DOI
10.1177/1074840720975869
Publication Date
5-1-2021
Citation
Wool, J., Irving, S., Meghani, S., & Ulrich, C. (2021). Parental Decision-Making in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: An Integrative Review.. J Fam Nurs, 27 (2), 154-167. https://doi.org/10.1177/1074840720975869
