Challenges of nurses and family members of burn patients: Integrative review

Abstract

Aims To identify the challenges facing burn care nurses and burn patients' family members and to explore the relationship between the above challenges. Design Whittemore and Knafl's integrative review. Methods Databases used for this review included Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PubMed and Embase. The original research published from January 2010 to November 2021 was selected. Studies reporting the challenges of family members or nurses of burn patients identified through extensive database search were considered for inclusion. The Mixed‐Method Appraisal‐Tool was applied for the evaluation of the quality of the literature. The analysis approach used was content analysis. Results Of the 2746 identified studies, 17 studies were included. Key findings related to the challenges facing nurses and family members of burn patients were extracted. The themes relating to burn care nurses included ethical and religious issues, clinical issues, work–life imbalance and limited support. The themes relating to family members included family's different views on prognosis and treatment, work–life imbalance, psychological issues and lack of multifaceted support. The challenges for the formal and informal caregivers are similar and there is existence of some shared concerns. If the above challenges are not resolved, support for the burn patients may be adversely affected. Corresponding measures should be taken to overcome such challenges.

Developing a Burn-Specific Family-Centered Care (BS-FCC) Framework: A Multi-Method Study

“…Following the extensive database and grey literature search, four reviews were retained. These comprised two scoping reviews [30,32] and two integrative reviews [31,33]. Two reviews were broad to include families of both pediatric and adult burn survivors [30,33], one review focused solely on parents of hospitalized children with burns [31], and another one focused solely on families of adult burn survivors [32].…”

“…These comprised two scoping reviews [30,32] and two integrative reviews [31,33]. Two reviews were broad to include families of both pediatric and adult burn survivors [30,33], one review focused solely on parents of hospitalized children with burns [31], and another one focused solely on families of adult burn survivors [32]. The publication years of the reviews ranged from 2011 to 2023 with the publication years of the included primary studies ranging from 1973 to 2021.A total of 32 family members participated in the qualitative phase with the interviews lasting between 22 and 43 min.…”

“…All the included reviews highlighted a plethora of emotional issues that emerge immediately following the injury. These include feelings of shock, grief, helplessness, hopelessness, depression, and anxiety [30,32,33]. These emotions that emerged following the initial crises were captured as "post-burn strain" in the qualitative dataset.…”

“…The notion of blame may emerge from various sources including blame from other family members, blame from a partner, or from oneself [31]. The treatment process during hospitalization also evoked emotional distress among family members of both pediatric and adult burn patients [30][31][32][33]. Witnessing the painful experiences of a loved one aroused unpleasant emotions and helplessness among family members [30,31].…”

Experiences of Nurses Caring for Children Under Five Years with Burns at a Teaching Hospital in Ghana

“…The burden of care results in the nurses experiencing burnout due to the workload, balancing work and life and inadequate support in the care of the children and their parents. 10, 11 Nurses are stressed from monitoring physiological state of patients, maintaining adequate nutrition, caring for the wound, and assessing and managing complexities of burns’ pain. 12 The nurses become physically and emotionally exhausted when the children have pain that is poorly managed and end of life symptoms begin to show, which make them feel powerless.…”