Old habits die hard: changing paediatric nurses' perceptions of families in ICU

Abstract

Although partnership-in-care is now widely accepted in most areas of paediatrics, the intensive care environment is still reluctant to welcome this advancement. In an attempt to update visiting guidelines in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a major paediatric hospital, a survey of the staff (n = 84) was conducted in July 1995. The discussion in this paper on the results of the survey will disappoint many paediatric nurses. Despite the literature identifying the major stressors for families in ICU environments and promoting parental participation, this study found that the majority of nursing and medical staff remained unwilling to 'allow' parents to stay with their child during most procedures. In addition, senior nursing staff strongly disapproved of the idea of parents being present during resuscitation of their child-'old habits die hard'. The conclusion from this pilot study is that although the nurses viewed themselves a 'family-friendly', in reality they still regard families as 'visitors' who should leave when the 'going gets tough'. If paediatric nurses are to meet the needs of families adequately, they need to give more than lip-service to the partnership-in-care philosophy. Acknowledgement of family needs is not enough; implementation is required.