Children support in intensive care unit : tools and psychological issues.

Abstract

In this article, we are talking about children support regarding our intensive care unit for adults. Throughout a multidisciplinary meeting, the question of children visiting our units has caught our attention. Fully conscious about the necessity to prepare any of their arrival, we have been planning a welcoming protocol providing support from the moment we are aware that the patient’s close family includes children (analysis of the actual context) up to the time of their visit. Furthermore, educational platforms fully adapted to children have been put in place for this specific matter. Our miniature Playmobil and Lego intensive care room (made with the help of La grande Récré pour l’enfance) appears as an innovative support. Our process deals with the psychological challenges that children encounter and the role of psychologists among the intensive care units, as well as the unwillingness of the care personnel or the family. This approach testifies our common and full interest regarding the support of our patients’s relatives. This process has been brought up following unprecedented events resulting in heavy workloads as well as intensive demands amongst the clinic, and it is now considerably expanded in order to help the caregivers, as much as the families and of course the patients.