Should out of sight mean out of mind? Challenging the role of paediatric intensive care in understanding and supporting children and families following childhood critical illness

Abstract

Several paediatric intensive care units across the world have celebrated their 50th or 60th anniversary (Argent et al., 2014). As we enter a new era of healthcare focused on prevention, self-management, integrated care and sustainability (Naylor et al., 2015), it is important to reflect and challenge the role of paediatric intensive care nursing and consider how prepared we are to address emerging and future challenges. Since the inception of Paediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs) in the 1950’s, significant medical and technological developments to support and sustain life have led to increased levels of survival of critically ill and injured children. However, the successes of paediatric intensive care have also created a new area of health issues in children and family members that is not fully understood or addressed. Some children and their families experience enduring physical, emotional, psychological and/or social adversity resulting in needs that are currently unmet (Manning et al., 2014, Manning, 2015). Therefore we aim to explicitly set out the challenges children and their families face following critical illness for PICU nurses to consider, and act on, whilst delivering care to them in the PICU.