Quality of life in parents of seriously Ill/injured children: a prospective longitudinal study.

PURPOSE: Parents of children with serious childhood illness or injury (SCII) are at risk of experiencing poor quality of life (QoL). This study investigated the nature of parent QoL at the time of child diagnosis and seven months post-diagnosis, the change in parent QoL over time, and early factors influencing short-term and longer-term parent QoL. METHODS: The sample was drawn from a prospective longitudinal cohort study conducted within a paediatric hospital setting. Participants comprised 223 parents of 167 children diagnosed with a life-threatening illness and hospitalised in the cardiology, oncology, or intensive care departments. Examined data included QoL ratings completed by parents within four weeks of diagnosis and seven months post-diagnosis, and demographic, illness-related, and psychosocial predictor measures collected within four weeks of diagnosis, or four months post-diagnosis. RESULTS: Generalised Estimating Equations were utilised to analyse data. Results indicated poor parent QoL at diagnosis, and normalised parent QoL at seven months. Improvement occurred most noticeably in the psychosocial domain. Reduced acute stress symptomatology and increased psychological flexibility were associated with higher parent QoL at diagnosis. Increased perceived emotional resources predicted enhanced parent QoL at seven months. CONCLUSION: Paediatric medical care teams should consider the challenges to QoL experienced by parents of children with SCII. Parents reporting acute stress symptoms during the acute-illness phase should be prioritised for intervention. Further, parent-dyads presenting at post-acute care settings reporting poor emotional resources would benefit from psychosocial and educative support.

Adverse health events associated with clinical placement: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: Clinical placement is a fundamental aspect of student learning and skill development across healthcare disciplines. However, participation in clinical placements can also present significant risk to students. This systematic literature review sought to examine the range of risks and hazards encountered by students across healthcare disciplines during their clinical placements. DESIGN: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis reporting guidelines were utilised in conducting this exploratory systematic review. DATA SOURCES: The CINAHL Complete, Medline Complete, and PsycINFO databases were searched. Reference lists of eligible records obtained via database searching were screened, and a supplementary key author search was conducted. Research published between 2013 and 2018 and conducted in the context of comparative international healthcare systems was the focus of this study. REVIEW METHODS: Study titles and abstracts were screened, and the full text of potentially relevant records was perused. Records meeting key eligibility criteria by addressing risk posed to students in healthcare disciplines within a clinical placement context were included in the final synthesis. RESULTS: The search identified 46 eligible records. The literature highlighted the worrying trend that students, most notably in the nursing discipline, can be exposed to a wide range of risks and adverse health events during clinical placement. CONCLUSIONS: As risks in unpredictable clinical environments cannot be eradicated, this review demonstrated a critical need for educative action to enable students to competently and confidently manage risks, and to reduce occurrence of adverse health events.