The Pediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs) are very specific units that are generally found in the reference hospitals. In many cases the Pediatric ICU is separated from the neonatal, but it is not uncommon to see both units merged.
The greatest source of income of these units is usually premature newborns, but they also host any process that requires intensive treatment, and in most cases, they serve as a pediatric resuscitation unit, especially when it comes to very young children .
PICUs are very feared sites by parents, since in addition to the implicit gravity, they usually have very restrictive measures to favor isolation, rest or intensive treatment of the little ones who are admitted to them.
The web diariodeleon.es has published an article announcing that the pediatricians of the PICU of the Hospital de León have decided to address this issue, in order to offer better quality of life not only to children admitted to these units, but also to their parents , whose pain is usually also considerable.
Restrictive measures in children admitted to the PICU
Among these measures, there is usually the one that Visiting hours for parents are usually very small and also limited, since for example it is not usual for other family members to be allowed, precisely because of the limited time available to see the child.
In addition, in many cases it may happen that if the child is requiring some type of action that matches the visiting schedule, then the parents cannot enter at that time to see it. Sometimes this is solved by making them happen later, but this is not always possible either.
Another complaint of the professionals of these delicate units is that the environment, since it must be very controlled, sometimes it is too cold, so that it does not help the children admitted emotionally, despite the heat that the staff itself usually tries to transmit.
Proposals of the professionals
The team of professionals of the PICU of León has already asked the management of the center to equip the unit with toys, televisions and other entertainment media, for children who, being less critical, need to remain in the unit for aspects related to their treatment.
On the other hand, the professionals themselves understand that there must be greater presence of families in pediatric ICUs, so they demand not only longer hours, but more space for family members to be present as long as possible, comfortably.
In the specific case of León, the visiting hours have been extended from 2 to 6 hours a day, which not only reports greater satisfaction to the parents, but they have also been able to prove that it helps reduce suffering, stress, tension and sleep problems of admitted children.
A trend for the future
The PICU of the Hospital de León is not the first to launch initiatives of this type, and if others do not, in many cases it is due to the eternal lack of resources, human and material.
From here we can only congratulate this unit and all those struggling to help the parents of children admitted to critics, and ask the center managers to support some units, even today orphaned in many aspects, to achieve these objectives, which clearly result in the health of children and the quality of life of them and their parents.
