Trauma-informed care and ethics consultation in the NICU

Parental Adverse Childhood Experiences and Post-PICU Stress in Children and Parents

OBJECTIVES

Hospitalization in a PICU is a stressful experience for children and their parents, with many experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after discharge. Risk factors may include preillness traumatic events, such as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). We sought to assess the feasibility of screening ACEs in parents of children admitted to a PICU, their prevalence, and their association with post-PICU PTSD symptoms in them and their children.

DESIGN

Single-center prospective observational study.

SETTING

Urban academic children's hospital from January to December 2021.

PATIENTS

One hundred forty-five children (2-18 yr old, admitted ≥ 2 d) and their parents.

INTERVENTIONS

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Data on parental demographics, ACEs, coping skills, and PICU environmental stressors, as well as patient clinical data, were collected. One month after PICU discharge, parents completed inventories assessing PTSD symptoms in them and their children. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were used to explore associations of ACEs with post-PICU PTSD. Of 145 enrolled parents, 95% completed the ACE questionnaire, 58% of whom reported greater than or equal to 1 ACE, and 14% had substantial (≥ 4) ACEs. Parent and patient follow-up was 79% and 70%, respectively. Sixteen percent of parents had provisional PTSD. Regression analysis showed parents with greater than or equal to 4 ACEs had 10 times greater odds of parental PTSD, compared to parents with less than 4 ACEs, (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 10.2; 95% CI, 1.03-100.9; p = 0.047). Fifty-six percent of patients screened at risk for PTSD. There was no association between substantial parental ACEs and patients' risk for PTSD (aOR = 3.5 [95% CI, 0.56-21.31]; p = 0.18).

CONCLUSIONS

ACEs were common among parents of critically ill children. Having substantial parental ACEs was associated with provisional parental PTSD after their child's PICU admission, but not with PTSD in the children. Family-centered care that seeks to mitigate post-PICU stress should be mindful of the potential relevance of parental ACEs.

Do parents get what they want during bad news delivery in NICU?

OBJECTIVES

Little is known about parents' preferences in breaking bad news (BBN) in neonatology. The study was aimed at comparing parents' experiences with their first BBN discussion with a neonatologist/pediatric surgeon to their personal preferences.

METHODS

We conducted a quantitative survey amongst 54 parents of hospitalized preterm or term infants with severe diseases in two medium-size and one small German neonatal units. Parents answered self-rated questions on how they perceived BBN during their infant's hospital stay, asking for procedure and perception of BBN, their preferences and satisfaction with BBN.

RESULTS

Overall satisfaction with BBN was moderate to high (median (min-max): 8 (1-10) on a 1-10-Likert scale). A compassionate way of disclosure correlated highest with overall satisfaction with BBN. Thorough transmission of information in an easy to understand manner emerged as another crucial point and correlated significantly to satisfaction with BBN, too. The study revealed that it was highly important for parents, that physicians had good knowledge of the infant and the course of his/her disease, which was only met in a minority of cases. Moreover, there was a major discrepancy between expected and observed professional competence of the delivering physicians. Additionally, physicians did not set aside sufficient time for BBN and parents reported a lack of transporting assurance and hope.

CONCLUSIONS

In BBN physicians should draw greatest attention to ensure understanding in parents, with good knowledge of child and disease and sufficient time in a trustworthy manner. Physicians should focus on transporting competence, trust and gentleness.

Trauma Informed Care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Parents who have a baby receiving care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) likely all experience emotional distress and are at elevated risk of experiencing trauma. The NICU environment is a potential source of traumatic stress for parents and often the risk for neonatal death is substantial. While the stressors facing parents are considerable, the effects can be minimized through implementation of trauma-informed care. The Family Guidance Tool was developed to help parents and healthcare professionals in a NICU setting utilize a strengths-based approach to create an atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding while encouraging the family to be the guide. This practical tool shows promise to mitigate stress often experienced by parents in a NICU setting.

Using Principles of Therapeutic Communication to Enhance Trauma-Informed Care in the Critical Care Setting to Promote Positive Encounters

Traumatic events such as hospitalization of family members in the intensive care setting can influence communication interactions between health-care workers and family members not just because of the acute situation but because it brings feelings resulting from past traumatic events to the surface. Providing trauma-informed care to all patients and families in the critical care setting improves communication and results in encounters that are less likely to result in an escalation of negative emotions and outbursts and provides an environment that is conducive to interprofessional communication between families, patients, and health-care workers.

Pediatric Ethics Consultation Services

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Although guidelines call for the presence of pediatric ethics consultation services (PECS), their existence in children's hospitals remains unquantified. This study determined the prevalence of PECS in children's hospitals and compared the practice environments of those with versus without PECS.

METHOD

The Children's Hospital Association Annual Benchmark Report survey from 2020 and PECS data were analyzed for the association of PECS with domains of care.

RESULTS

Two hundred thirty-one hospitals received survey requests, with 148 submitted and 144 reachable to determine PECS (62% response rate), inclusive of 50 states. Ninety-nine (69%) reported having ethics consultation services. Freestanding children's hospitals (28% of all hospitals) were more likely to report the presence of PECS (P <.001), making up 41% of hospitals with a PECS. The median number of staffed beds was 203 (25th quartile 119, 75th quartile 326) for those with PECS compared with 80 for those without (25th quartile 40, 75th quartile 121). Facilities with palliative care, higher trauma ratio, intensive care, and comprehensive programs were more likely to have PECS. Academic affiliation was associated with PECS presence (P <.001). Settings associated with skilled nursing facilities or long-term care programs were not more likely to have PECS. Hospitals designated as federally qualified health centers (P = .04) and accountable care organizations (P = .001) were more likely to have PECS.

CONCLUSION

Although PECS function as formal means to clarify values and mitigate conflict, one-third of children's hospitals lack PECS. Future research is needed to understand barriers to PECS and improve its presence.

Culturally competent care in the neonatal intensive care unit, strategies to address outcome disparities

In the past two years, we have witnessed social unrest, the unequal effects of a pandemic across our society, and a focus on how systems in the United States produce unequal outcomes along racial and cultural divides. With increased national awareness, there has also been a call for change in healthcare, specifically racial inequities in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) outcomes (1). While race may be a data point used to classify outcomes, it has no basis in biology, and merely identifying it does not make it simple to address. To address these inequities we need to look past the social construct of race and to the social aspects of our care in the NICU. Focusing on small and large changes that we can make as individuals, units, and as a specialty that can improve the care and outcomes of this at-risk patient population. This perspective focuses on culturally congruent care, trauma-informed care, and other approaches to reduce disparities in neonatal outcomes.

Personalized support of parents of extremely preterm infants before, during and after birth

The emotional turmoil associated with extremely preterm birth is inescapable parents. How each parent handles the unexpected, makes sense of the unknown and learns to parent their child is uniquely personal. A rigid standardized approach to support families through their journey before and during neonatal intensive care disregards this individuality. This article reviews general concepts and practices that can be learned and applied by clinicians to promote resiliency and help parents cope adaptively. This review will describe how to personalize parenting support during the antenatal consultation and hospitalization for parents of extremely premature infants. To facilitate this, mindsets and care delivery models need to shift from inflexible standardized protocols to flexible guidelines that enable personalized communications, support structures and care delivery models tailored to each person's characteristics, preferences, and values.