title: Caring Difficulties and Coping Strategies for Pediatric Organ Transplant Recipients and Their Families During Dark Recovery Experiences in the Hospital: Perspective of Health Professionals in Taiwan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study explored caring difficulties and the reliable coping strategies for pediatric organ transplant recipients (POTR) and their families during their dark recovery experiences (DRE) in the hospital from the perspectives of Taiwan organ transplant health professionals (OTHP) in Taiwan.
  
  
  METHODS
  A qualitative design was used with a purposive sample of OT surgeons (OTS) and nurses. Data were collected by face-to-face in-depth interviews and analyzed by content analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-five subjects (39 females, 16 males) participated in this project. They included 15 OTS and 40 nurses. The nurses included registered nurses (n = 27), nurse practitioners (n = 5), and assistant or head nurses (n = 8). Their ages ranged from 25 to 66 (M = 38.4) years old. Thirty-eight (69%) had a college education and 17 (31%) had a graduate education. Their OT careers ranged from between 3 to 40 (M = 23.8) years for OTS, and 0.5 to 15 (M = 4.10) years for the OT nursing group. Six types of coping strategies for caring difficulties were reported: (a) implementing humanistic care training programs, (b) developing clinical paths for complex multiple OT cases, (c) holding case conferences for successful and failed cases, (d) developing OT expert training programs for interdisciplinary team members, (e) integrating acute and long-term care teams for difficult OT cases and families, and (f) inviting assistance from social workers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This research identifies important care difficulties and provides coping strategies that help to empower OTHP to care for POTR and their families during DRE, including increasing the manpower of experienced OT staff, conducting systematic in-service training, building teamwork between OTHP, and establishing a good pediatric OTHP team with consensus and good communication channels so as to effectively deal with the difficulties faced when caring for the POTR, and further to effectively enhance the overall quality of clinical care of POTR.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan; Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: F-C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Gerontological Care and Management, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: F Jong
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: M-H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Hsieh
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital, and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, and Department of Surgery, Fu Jen Catholic University Hospital, and Fu Jen Catholic University College of Medicine, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Electronic address: angp@ntu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: S-S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: National Yang-Ming University, Institute of Clinical and Community Health Nursing, Taipei, Taiwan; Chair Professor, Department of Medical Research, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chayi, Taiwan. Electronic address: fj28357510@gmail.com.
authors.forename: F Jin
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Shih
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002648:Child; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013624:Taiwan; D066027:Transplant Recipients / Q000523:psychology*