Randomised Controlled Trial to Investigate the Effect of Parental Presence at Intensive Care Unit to Ward Transfer Bedside Rounds on Parental Anxiety and Children's Safety

University of Alberta200 enrolled

Overview

The investigators shall conduct a randomized controlled trial to investigate the effect of parental presence at transfer rounds on parental anxiety and patient safety following transfer from the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (PCICU) to the ward. The investigators plan to test the hypothesis that parental involvement in the child's transfer, with the option of peer support, will result in measurable reductions in medication errors, unplanned nutritional and feeding management, and parental anxiety after transfer as compared to the control group. The investigators goal is to improve continuity of care by implementing multidisciplinary transfer rounds at the child's bedside in which patients and family share in the control of the management plan when a cardiac child is discharged from PCICU to the ward.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

200

Conditions

Parental Anxiety Children's Safety

Interventions

Eligibility

Sex: ALLHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Parents of cardiac children aged 1 day to 17 years admitted to PCICU * Written informed consent and assent when appropriate * Planned discharge from the PCICU to the ward. Exclusion Criteria: * Parents with less than grade 6 reading skills as they will not be able to independently take the Spielberger's State -Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). * Parents who are not willing to be randomized to the control group in which they cannot be present for transfer rounds. * Neonates being discharged from PCICU to NICU or neonates being discharged from NICU to wards.

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Change from baseline in parental STAI score

Speilberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory will be administered to participating parents both prior to and post transfer of their child out of the pediatric cardiac ICU.

Time frame: 2 to 4 hours post transfer

Secondary Outcomes

Rate of unplanned changes in medication and nutrition management

Medication and nutritional order reconciliation will occur 48 hours after transfer from the PCICU. The pharmacist, dietician and physician who review the patient charts and order sheets will be blinded to the randomization. Differences between pre and post transfer orders will be discussed to detect omissions and/or deviation from standard of care.

Time frame: 48 hours post transfer