The experience of hospitalized children regarding their interactions with nursing professionals

Abstract

The aim of this study is to describe the experience of children in their interactions with nursing professionals while in hospital. It is a qualitative study supported by the critical incident technique. Data was collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with thirty hospitalized children and teenagers between 8 and 14 years old. The results showed that children positively valued nursing care at the hospital and recognized that interactions with nursing staff included social and emotional factors. It is concluded that communication established with children plays a fundamental role to comprehend their experiences while in hospital. Therefore, nurses need to evaluate their strategies and relational skills used to interact with children at the hospital.

Nursing care satisfaction from school‐aged children's perspective: An integrative review

“…On what concerns expectations of care, children also mentioned the experiences associated with nurses as persons as being the most important. Respect is a fundamental characteristic (Chesney et al, 2005;Noreña Peña & Cibanal Juan, 2011), and an affective interaction with school-aged children is essential to achieve a good relationship (Santos et al, 2016;Silva & Ribeiro, 2000). Nurses were mentioned among the best experiences during hospitalization (Board, 2005;Lindeke et al, 2006;Pelander, Lehtonen, & Leino-Kilpi, 2007;Pelander & Leino-Kilpi, 2010), smiling and colour painted in children's drawings (Pelander, Lehtonen, & Leino-Kilpi, 2007;Shirdelzade et al, 2014;Wennström et al, 2008), and knowing nurses as time goes by in the hospital was a source of satisfaction for children (Wennström et al, 2008).…”

“…Children expressed their dissatisfaction when professionals failed to talk to them or explain procedures (Santos et al, 2016), were controlling (Carney et al, 2003), were not available (Silva & Ribeiro, 2000), and provided confusing communication (Lindeke et al, 2006;Noreña Peña & Cibanal Juan, 2011).…”

“…Information provided by nurses was frequently mentioned (Chesney et al, 2005;Pelander, Leino-Kilpi, & Katajisto, 2007;Santos et al, 2016) as the opportunity to discuss their illness in an appropriate manner (Battrick & Glasper, 2004;Noreña Peña & Cibanal Juan, 2011). Children also mention needing more information on their illness, so they could be involved in care, and prepared for procedures (Coyne, 2006b).…”

Cuando la comunicación es nociva en el encuentro entre profesional y familia del niño hospitalizado

“…Ellos consideran la relación de simpatía o antipatía, percibida en determinadas situaciones. El concepto que los niños tienen de la calidad de la atención de enfermería está condicionada a la relación del personal de ese equipo con sus padres o adultos cercanos (21) .…”

“…Otro aspecto que debe ser considerado por el equipo de salud es la coparticipación del niño en el proceso de cuidar, pues estudio reciente (21) mostró que algunas veces los profesionales se dirigen solo a las madres, olvidando que los niños también comprenden lo que se dice. Así, es importante destacar que la comunicación establecida con los niños tiene un papel imprescindible en la mediación de sus experiencias y en las ideas que elaboran sobre el proceso salud/enfermedad.…”