Intensive care is a challenging role for all healthcare providers. A Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) nurse plays a crucial role in implementation of quality critical care to children. Perhaps the most difficult part in PICU nursing care is providing and maintaining a fine balance between technological interventions, individual child's needs and family involvement.
Good PICU care requires components of medical, surgical and nursing care and effective multidisciplinary collaboration. Nurse plays a central role in coordination between the multispecialty teams to maintain a uniform and patient centric critical care.
Nursing role is second to none in PICU. Nurses are the most directly involved in delivering healthcare to a critically ill child. Standard of nursing care reflect upon the overall quality of the PICU.
Role of Nurse in PICU
- Importance of a PICU nurse cannot be overemphasized. Their role extends from handling of emergencies like cardiopulmonary arrest to health teaching and providing support to the families
- Certain basic exposure and training is essential for a nurse to be able to work efficiently and confidently in a PICU. This includes an experience of general pediatric nursing as an absolute minimum. Nurses need to be familiar with all the technology used like monitors, ventilator, emergency drugs usage, etc. We will cover essential components in this manual also
- Primary nurse: Ideally, a primary nurse should be assigned to a child and every effort should be made to maintain continuity of care to promote early recognition of abnormal signs as well as promoting family's confidence
- Nurses need to continuously assess, monitor and provide timely interventions for the sick child. The spectrum of illness is quite wide in a PICU so children require individualized and specialized care. Nurses should be competent to handle any sudden emergency in the absence of intensivist
- Being proficient in handling the ventilator, monitors and infusions is mandatory in PICU. This type of atmosphere can be quite distressing and intimidating for the families. Nurses have to be able to provide emotional support to the families and counsel them as the child's condition changes.
- Nurses should be aware of the ethics related to healthcare and should make sure not to violate the basic principles.