The family member in the pediatric intensive care unit: a developer needs context

Abstract

Objective: understanding the needs of family members of children admitted to the pediatric ICU. Method: a qualitative descriptive study supported on thematic analysis with data collected by unstructured interviews having as subjects eight family members of children admitted to the pediatric ICU of a hospital of reference in the State of Maranhão. Results: revealed 11 themes grouped into five needs (safety and comfort, emotional, communication, adaptation and support). Conclusion: the illness and hospitalization coupled with the care needs of family members revealed a gap between systems centered on the disease and the centered on the person that encompassed the physical, emotional, spiritual and financial field of the accompanying family member. This perspective demands expansion of the focus beyond the disease reaching the family and its needs. Thus, the ICU professionals shall develop skills and competencies to identify and meet those needs, breaking with the fragmentation of care and suggest meeting that involves the context, the child and family.