Abstract
Children and their families/guardians admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) experience barriers in communication, exposures to environmental stressors, and challenges in their continuity of care. The admission profiles and psychosocial issues of a pediatric oncology population admitted to a high-volume pediatric tertiary care facility were explored from 2012 to 2015 (N = 187), as a series of independent admission events. The results indicate that the mean age of patients at admission was 9 years old, predominantly male, Caucasian, and admitted with a neurological, hematological, or bone/tissue cancer diagnosis. Patients’ mean length of stay (LOS) varied according to cancer diagnosis. A wide range of cancers was represented, with half of the admissions primarily due to their cancer. Clinical implications include the need to optimize relational continuity and patient/family involvement utilizing cooperative communication. Future research could include investigation of satisfaction scores of families, in relation to PICU LOS as a likely risk factor for adverse psychosocial issues for the family.
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Acknowledgments
VPS data was provided by Virtual Pediatric Systems, LLC. No endorsement or editorial restriction of the interpretation of these data or opinions of the authors has been implied or stated.
The authors would like to thank Dawn Eding, RN; Craig Vandellen, MSW; Dr. Deanna Mitchell; Dr. Surender Rajasekaran; and Dr. Rick Hackbarth, as well as the clinical oncology and PICU staff at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, for their support in the completion of this chapter and various contributions.
The authors would also like to thank Beyond Words, Inc., for assistance with the editing and preparation of this manuscript. The authors maintained control over the direction and content of this article during its development. Although Beyond Words, Inc., supplied professional editing services, this does not indicate its endorsement of, agreement with, or responsibility for the content of the article.
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Leimanis, M.L., Zuiderveen, S.K. (2018). Psychosocial Considerations for Cancer Patients in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at a Large, Freestanding Children’s Hospital. In: Fitzpatrick, T. (eds) Quality of Life Among Cancer Survivors . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75223-5_7
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