The impact of parental accompaniment in paediatric trauma: a helicopter emergency medical
service (HEMS) perspective
Engelsk titel: The impact of parental accompaniment in paediatric trauma: a helicopter emergency medical
service (HEMS) perspective
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Författare:
Cowley, Alan
;
Durge, Neal
Email: alanc@kssairambulance.org.uk
Språk: Eng
Antal referenser: 28
Dokumenttyp:
Översikt
UI-nummer: 14129092
Sammanfattning
Major trauma remains a significant cause of mortality and morbidity in young people and
adolescents throughout the western world. Both the physical and psychological consequences of
trauma are well documented and it is shown that peri-traumatic factors play a large part in the
emotional recovery of children involved in trauma. Indeed, parental anxiety levels may play one of
the biggest roles. There are no publically available guidelines on pre-hospital accompaniment, and
where research has been done on parental presence it often focuses primarily on the parents or staff,
rather than the child themselves. Whilst acknowledging the impact on parents and staff, the
importance of the emotional wellbeing of the child should be reinforced, to reduce the likelihood of
developing symptoms in keeping with post-traumatic stress disorder. This non-systematic literature
review, aims to examine the impact of parental accompaniment to hospital, following paediatric
trauma, and to help pre-hospital clinicians decide whether accompaniment would be of benefit to their
patient population. The lack of published data does not enable a formal recommendation of parental
accompaniment in the helicopter to be mandated, though it should be the preference in land based
conveyance. Future research is needed into the emotional recovery of children after trauma, as well
as the experiences of patient, parent and staff during conveyance.