[The pediatrician and child death: integration of palliative care in the pediatric intensive care unit].
Palliative care is essential in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Because of the mortality rates and the presence of life-threatening conditions in children admitted to the PICU, pediatricians must be prepared to provide palliative care independently of cure-directed therapies. The present article reviews certain issues, including the decision-making process in the PICU, psychosocial needs and susceptibility to burnout among PICU staff, and the emotions and attitudes of the staff when a child dies. We provide some guidelines on how to act when a child dies, how to meet with parents after the child's death and how to follow-up parental bereavement. Strategies that can help PICU pediatricians to cope with the numerous loses they experience are suggested.
Salas Arrambide
M
M
Departamento de Psicología, Facultad de Filosofía y Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Deusto, Bilbao, España. maitanesalas@yahoo.com
Gabaldón Poc
O
O
Mayoral Miravete
J L
JL
Pérez-Yarza
E G
EG
Amayra Caro
I
I
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001344:Autopsy; D002648:Child; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D028761:Withholding Treatment