Clinician perception of care at the end of life in a quaternary neonatal intensive care unit
IntroductionCare for neonates at the end of life (EOL) is often challenging for families and medical teams alike, performed suboptimally, and requires an experienced and compassionate clinician. Much literature exists on adult and pediatric EOL care, but limited studies examine the neonatal process....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Pediatrics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fped.2023.1197360/full |
| _version_ | 1827927733073608704 |
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| author | Lauren Imai Megan M. Gray Brennan J. H. Kim Allison N. J. Lyle Amber Bock Elliott Mark Weiss Elliott Mark Weiss |
| author_facet | Lauren Imai Megan M. Gray Brennan J. H. Kim Allison N. J. Lyle Amber Bock Elliott Mark Weiss Elliott Mark Weiss |
| author_sort | Lauren Imai |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionCare for neonates at the end of life (EOL) is often challenging for families and medical teams alike, performed suboptimally, and requires an experienced and compassionate clinician. Much literature exists on adult and pediatric EOL care, but limited studies examine the neonatal process.MethodsWe aimed to describe clinicians' experiences around EOL care in a single quaternary neonatal intensive care unit as we implemented a standard guideline using the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit-Quality of Dying and Death 20 tool.ResultsSurveys were completed by 205 multidisciplinary clinicians over three time periods and included 18 infants at EOL. While most responses were high, a meaningful minority were below goal (<8 on 0–10 scale) for troubling symptom management, conflict between parents and staff, family access to resources, and parent preparation of symptoms. Comparison between Epochs revealed improvement in one symptom management and four communication categories. Satisfaction scores related to education around EOL were better in later Epochs. Neonatal Pain, Agitation, and Sedation Scale scores were low, with few outliers.DiscussionThese findings can guide those aiming to improve processes around neonatal EOL by identifying areas with the greatest challenges (e.g., conflict management) and areas that need further study (e.g., pain management around death). |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T05:57:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a02a4303c77b4a70b779e872595c68a5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-2360 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T05:57:09Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Pediatrics |
| spelling | doaj.art-a02a4303c77b4a70b779e872595c68a52023-06-13T04:27:39ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Pediatrics2296-23602023-06-011110.3389/fped.2023.11973601197360Clinician perception of care at the end of life in a quaternary neonatal intensive care unitLauren Imai0Megan M. Gray1Brennan J. H. Kim2Allison N. J. Lyle3Amber Bock4Elliott Mark Weiss5Elliott Mark Weiss6Division of Neonatology, Children’s Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO, United StatesDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, United StatesDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, United StatesDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, United StatesDepartment of Hospital Medicine, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle, WA, United StatesDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, United StatesTreuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, WA, United StatesIntroductionCare for neonates at the end of life (EOL) is often challenging for families and medical teams alike, performed suboptimally, and requires an experienced and compassionate clinician. Much literature exists on adult and pediatric EOL care, but limited studies examine the neonatal process.MethodsWe aimed to describe clinicians' experiences around EOL care in a single quaternary neonatal intensive care unit as we implemented a standard guideline using the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit-Quality of Dying and Death 20 tool.ResultsSurveys were completed by 205 multidisciplinary clinicians over three time periods and included 18 infants at EOL. While most responses were high, a meaningful minority were below goal (<8 on 0–10 scale) for troubling symptom management, conflict between parents and staff, family access to resources, and parent preparation of symptoms. Comparison between Epochs revealed improvement in one symptom management and four communication categories. Satisfaction scores related to education around EOL were better in later Epochs. Neonatal Pain, Agitation, and Sedation Scale scores were low, with few outliers.DiscussionThese findings can guide those aiming to improve processes around neonatal EOL by identifying areas with the greatest challenges (e.g., conflict management) and areas that need further study (e.g., pain management around death).https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fped.2023.1197360/fullend of life carepalliative caresymptom managementNICUneonatal deathquality of death |
| spellingShingle | Lauren Imai Megan M. Gray Brennan J. H. Kim Allison N. J. Lyle Amber Bock Elliott Mark Weiss Elliott Mark Weiss Clinician perception of care at the end of life in a quaternary neonatal intensive care unit Frontiers in Pediatrics end of life care palliative care symptom management NICU neonatal death quality of death |
| title | Clinician perception of care at the end of life in a quaternary neonatal intensive care unit |
| title_full | Clinician perception of care at the end of life in a quaternary neonatal intensive care unit |
| title_fullStr | Clinician perception of care at the end of life in a quaternary neonatal intensive care unit |
| title_full_unstemmed | Clinician perception of care at the end of life in a quaternary neonatal intensive care unit |
| title_short | Clinician perception of care at the end of life in a quaternary neonatal intensive care unit |
| title_sort | clinician perception of care at the end of life in a quaternary neonatal intensive care unit |
| topic | end of life care palliative care symptom management NICU neonatal death quality of death |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fped.2023.1197360/full |
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