title: Nursing the child who is alone in the hospital.
abstract: Because of advances in medical technology, many critically burned children now survive horrendous injures that they would not have survived less than 10 years ago. Pediatric burn intensive care unit (BICU) nurses provide around the clock care, giving them greater contact with the children than any other health care professional. Often the children are alone in the hospital because their parents or care providers were injured or killed in the accident, live in another country, or are at home caring for other family members. Thematic analysis of data obtained during 112 hours of interviews and 134 hours of observation with 16 BICU nurses resulted in the identification of four categories of nurses' practices that helped the holistic healing of children who were alone on the BICU of a hospital in the southwestern United States: (a) being a parent-minded nurse; (b) sustaining human connections; (c) receiving the patient as a child; and (d) renewing the spirit of the child.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas Medical Branch, School of Nursing, Galveston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Karla
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zengerle-Levy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001010:Anxiety, Separation / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002053:Burn Units; D002056:Burns / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002673:Child, Hospitalized / Q000523:psychology*; D003142:Communication; D003422:Critical Care / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006694:Holistic Health; D006801:Humans; D008132:Loneliness; D008149:Love; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D033262:Narration; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology*; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology; D010371:Pediatric Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D002666:Psychology, Child; D015206:Southwestern United States; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires