Pediatr Crit Care Me
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Dec 2024
Caregiver Perspectives on Provider Continuity During Prolonged PICU Hospitalizations: A Single-Center Qualitative Study, 2021-2022.
To improve continuity of care, some PICUs assign a continuity attending (CA) physician for children with prolonged hospitalizations. Little is known about how this intervention impacts familial caregivers' experiences. The objective of this study was to provide in-depth descriptions of family perspectives about continuity of care during prolonged PICU hospitalizations for children with and without a PICU CA. ⋯ As PICU patient medical complexity and length of stay increase, familial caregivers' needs transition from understanding day-to-day management to navigating care team transitions and partnering with providers to develop long-term care plans. Targeted interventions to increase provider continuity that consider relational, informational, and management continuity are needed to optimize patient outcomes and family experiences.