Minerva anestesiologica
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Minerva anestesiologica · Dec 2013
Parental experience of end-of life care in the pediatric intensive care unit.
There is a considerable variability among European countries regarding the management of end-of-life (EOL) care in the pediatric critical care setting. In Italy, recommendations on these issues are available but no study has investigated the parents' experience. The aim of this study was to explore parents' experience of EOL care in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in Italy. ⋯ Our findings suggest that in order to improve pediatric EOL care we need to better integrate medical and parental priorities, in a shared process that allows parents to preserve their role and relationship with their child. The most critical aspect for parents was not related to the involvement (or not) in EOL decisions, but rather to the possibility of staying connected with their child during the hospitalization and at the time of death.