A European Society of Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care (ESPNIC) survey of European critical care management of young people

Abstract

There is little consistency of practice in some areas such as pregnancy testing, DVT prophylaxis or partner visiting, whereas in others, such as involving young people in healthcare decisions where possible, practice is consistently good. Further research should focus on the young people's experience of critical care to refine healthcare policy. What is Known: • Adolescents have distinct health and psychosocial needs that are often poorly catered for in contemporary healthcare settings, including critical care. • As adolescents are infrequent patients for any intensive care unit, there is a poor research base and essentially no guidance, regarding optimal care. What is New: • We developed a mnemonic with adolescents and ICU staff to improve healthcare delivery to young people in critical care, the 6Ps: privacy, permission, DVT prophylaxis, personal life, puberty and practical issues. • Delivery of the adolescents' critical care varies greatly both between and within countries; the 6Ps offers a method of standardising and improving this across different countries.

Discharged from paediatric intensive care: A mixed methods study of teenager's anxiety levels and experiences after paediatric intensive care unit discharge

“…13 Teenagers have been reported to experience more complex and long-lasting distress after discharge from PICU, 14 hence a need for more teenager-focused research studies. 15 In the general population, one in five teenagers will suffer from mental health problems, the most common being anxiety and depression. Over 50% of mental illness starts by the age of 14% and 75% develops by age 18.…”

“…Teenagers are in a unique phase of development and their experience of a PICU admission could arguably be very different from that of an adult or child 13 . Teenagers have been reported to experience more complex and long‐lasting distress after discharge from PICU, 14 hence a need for more teenager‐focused research studies 15 …”

Where Should Critically Ill Adolescents Receive Care? A Qualitative Interview-Based Study of Perspectives of Staff Working in Adult and Pediatric Intensive Care Units

“…In total, 4500 adolescents (aged 12-19 years) are admitted to AICUs or PICUs in the United Kingdom every year. 5 Although there have been attempts to improve care for adolescents in PICUs, 6 we do not know how best to meet their needs and those of their families. In addition, the views of staff, adolescents, and their parents can give us insight into what high-quality care looks like.…”

Eliciting the experiences of the adolescent-parent dyad following critical care admission: a pilot study

“…The way critically ill adolescents access and experience health services may be very different to the majority of adolescent service users: many of the choices about location of care or service provider are not available to them, and the effects of drugs and critical illness may render them less able to participate in decisions about their care. Efforts have been made to tailor the delivery of intensive care for critically ill adolescents and their families [ 17 ], but their opinions have rarely been sought, despite the growing emphasis on the importance of patient experience and the patient voice in health policies. However, there are likely to be specific challenges in elucidating such information.…”