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Emergency Inter-Hospital Transfer of Children to PICUs in the United Kingdom: Qualitative Exploration of Parents’ Experiences of Retrieval Teams

Evans, Ruth EC; Barber, Vicky; Ramnarayan, Padmanabhan; Davies, Patrick; Wray, Jo; On behalf of the DEPICT Study Group; (2023) Emergency Inter-Hospital Transfer of Children to PICUs in the United Kingdom: Qualitative Exploration of Parents’ Experiences of Retrieval Teams. Pediatric Critical Care Medicine , 24 (10) e476-e486. 10.1097/PCC.0000000000003267. Green open access

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Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Each year in the United Kingdom there are around 5,000 inter-hospital transfers of critically ill children into PICUs. There are few published descriptions of what this experience is like for parents. The objective was to describe parents’ experiences of the inter-hospital transfer of their critically ill child to a PICU. // DESIGN: Qualitative in-depth interviews. // SETTING: Twenty-four PICUs in England and Wales. // PARTICIPANTS: Parent interview participants (n = 30) were purposively sampled from a larger pool of parent questionnaire respondents to create a sample diverse in child’s age, presenting medical illness, retrieval team and whether a parent traveled in the ambulance. // MEASUREMENT AND MAIN RESULTS: Open-ended semi-structured interviews using topic guides to encourage parents to describe their experiences of transfer. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed using Framework Analysis. Parents’ perceptions of transport staff as confident and competent through observation of clinical care, and positive communication experiences during the transfer process, were related to feelings of trust and being supported, as well as relief from distress. Parents varied in their needs for conversation and support. Parents who did not travel in the ambulance had fewer opportunities to interact with the transport team and experienced different challenges in the period prior to their child’s admission to the PICU. // CONCLUSIONS: Retrieval teams can influence how parents experience their child’s emergency transfer to the PICU, offering parents proximity to knowledgeable staff. Satisfaction may be related to matching parents’ needs. Understanding parents’ needs and optimizing opportunities for effective communication between parents and staff are beneficial to parents.

Type: Article
Title: Emergency Inter-Hospital Transfer of Children to PICUs in the United Kingdom: Qualitative Exploration of Parents’ Experiences of Retrieval Teams
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1097/PCC.0000000000003267
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1097/PCC.0000000000003267
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Inter-hospital transfer; parent experiences; pediatric intensive care; pediatric retrieval
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Mathematics
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Mathematics > Clinical Operational Research Unit
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Infection, Immunity and Inflammation Dept
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10184414
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