Practical strategies to improve communications with school-aged children in the PICU

Abstract

Children in the PICU who are treated for illnesses using intubation are often unable to express their needs effectively. This project first used a self-designed survey to record the researcher's observations and interview data. Results indicated that even with clinical staffs trying their best to understand PICU patient needs, 50% of the patients had unmet demands due to inadequate communication. This unmet demand was a source of negative patient behavior. This project developed an appropriate communication system to improve communication efficacy between children and clinical staffs in order to meet patient demands and improve PICU patient outcomes. Various types of auxiliary school-aged-children-appropriate communication tools such as picture cards, hand-held communication boards, and magnetic spelling board were used. Using these communication tools together with education and training greatly improved communication efficacy and patient needs provision. Percentage of patient needs met increased from 50% to 98% and the average time clinical staffs needed to spend to understand a patient's needs decreased from 15 to 4 minutes per instance. This project improved relationships and interactions between clinical nurses and school-aged children. The developed auxiliary communication tools may be introduced in the PICU based on the results of this project as an effective approach to improving patient-staff communication and reducing patient-perceived hospitalization stress.