Perception of support in professional’s and technician’s grief of pediatric intensive care units in public hospitals

Abstract

Introduction: Death in childhood is a reality faced by health professionals, especially in highly complex units such as intensive care ones. This leads to feelings of helplessness and frustration in health professionals, compromising their physical, emotional, and mental health, which is worsened by the feeling of low social support and poor preparation for coping with death and support for the patient’s family.

Objective: To expose the perception of sorrow support of professionals and technicians in pediatric intensive care units of public hospitals, after the death of the patients.

Subjects and Method: Qualitative study with a phenomenological approach. 16 in-depth interviews were conducted with pediatric intensive care professionals and technicians from five public hospitals in Santiago, Chile. Inclusion criteria considered working for more than a year in the Unit, having experienced the death of patients, and recognizing that they have gone through a professional sorrow. The interview focused on the following question: How have you experienced the sorrow support received after the death of patients in your unit? Once the narratives were transcribed, the phenomenological analysis and subsequent data triangulation were carried out, achieving saturation.

Results: It was observed that the participants feel little supported in their sorrows after the death of the patients, where there are obstacles to face the situation. Although facing death is something complex for the participants, they recognize that they can generate protection strategies and also feel supported by the people around them. Despite the complexity of this experience, the participants consider that there are lessons learned in facing death which leads them to give meaning to their professional work.

Conclusion: Professionals need the recognition of deaths in the workplace and, therefore, formal and continuous support from their work team and institution.