Support for Parents During Distressing Medical Procedures

Support staff to tend to parents who wish to be present while their child is resuscitated

Context

When teams of doctors and nurses need to resuscitate a young patient, they ask the parents to leave the room. Waiting during this stressful time is especially distressing for the parents. When parents are allowed to remain in the room during resuscitation, they are also able to see how everything possible was done to save their child. In the worst cases, this can help them in mourning their child.

 

Project

The project entails preparing resuscitation teams for the presence of parents who wish to stay during serious medical procedures. Simulation techniques are used to train support staff to tend to the parents. This project takes a global approach to “child-family” care.

It promotes the humanization of painful technical procedures as well as good communication between care teams and parents.

project manager

Dr. Alice Bordessoule, Deputy Head Physician, Pediatric Specialties Division, Children and Adolescents Department, Geneva University Hospitals

Ms. Véronique Launoy, Division Nurse Manager, Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care, Children and Adolescents Department, Geneva University Hospitals