Practical strategies to improve communications with school-aged children in the PICU

Objective: Children in the PICU who are treated for illnesses using intubation are often unable to express their needs effectively. This project first used a self-designed survey to record the researcher's observations and interview data. Results indicated that even with clinical staffs trying their best to understand PICU patient needs, 50% of the patients had unmet demands due to inadequate communication. This unmet demand was a source of negative patient behavior. Objective: This project developed an appropriate communication system to improve communication efficacy between children and clinical staffs in order to meet patient demands and improve PICU patient outcomes.

Methods: Various types of auxiliary school-aged-children-appropriate communication tools such as picture cards, hand-held communication boards, and magnetic spelling board were used. Using these communication tools together with education and training greatly improved communication efficacy and patient needs provision.

Results: Percentage of patient needs met increased from 50% to 98% and the average time clinical staffs needed to spend to understand a patient's needs decreased from 15 to 4 minutes per instance.

Conclusions: This project improved relationships and interactions between clinical nurses and school-aged children. The developed auxiliary communication tools may be introduced in the PICU based on the results of this project as an effective approach to improving patient-staff communication and reducing patient-perceived hospitalization stress.