Visita de los menores de edad en una unidad de cuidados intensivos. ¿Qué opina el personal sanitario?

Abstract

AimTo determine the opinion of healthcare staff (HS) on the presence of minors in an adult intensive care unit. MethodTransversal descriptive research study in an adult intensive care unit with 62 people, between September/December 2017. The Knutsson questionnaire was used with 10 closed questions with space for comments, and 2 open questions.Selection of the respondents was by means of convenience sampling. Descriptive statistics with absolute frequencies and percentages. Chi-squared-test or Fisher. Significance p<.05. Results61 questionnaires were collected: 70.5% nursing staff (NS).Fifty percent of medical staff (MS) would restrict the entry of 0 to 6-year old minors versus 76.2% NS (p=.04). Of the MS, 16.7% would restrict the visits of minors between the ages of 7 and 12 versus 46.5% NS (p=.02).Seventy-five percent of HS thought that minors’ access could entail a risk of infection for the children. Of the survey respondents, 60% believed that the environment could intimidate the minor, and 66.7% thought that the patient's condition could affect the child. They would permit 0-6-year-old minors to access the ICU if the patient was dying (70.6% MS/41% NS, p=.04), awake and alert (77.8% MS/57.5% NE) and close relatives (parents) (66.7% MS/60% NS). ConclusionsHS support minors visiting an adult adult intensive care unit if they are>6 years old. HS show a more positive attitude towards visits in special circumstances such as close relatives, awake patient, and death regardless of their age. The reasons for restriction of visits are: environment, patient's condition and risk of infection.NS show a less positive attitude in relation to visits.