The pervasive relevance of COVID-19 within routine paediatric palliative care consultations during the pandemic: A conversation analytic study.
Palliat Med
; 34(9): 1202-1219, 2020 10.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-719531
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The importance of caring for children with complex and serious conditions means that paediatric palliative care must continue during pandemics. The recent pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) provides a natural experiment to study health communication during pandemic times. However, it is unknown how communication within consultations might change during pandemics.AIM:
This study, a sub-study of a larger project, aimed to examine real-world instances of communication in paediatric palliative care consultations prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic to understand how clinicians and families talk about the pandemic.DESIGN:
Paediatric palliative care consultations prior to, during, and immediately following the initial peak of COVID-19 cases in Australia were video recorded and analysed using Conversation Analysis methods. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS:
Twenty-five paediatric palliative care consultations (including face-to-face outpatient, telehealth outpatient and inpatient consultations) were video recorded within a public children's hospital in Australia. Participants included 14 health professionals, 15 child patients, 23 adult family members and 5 child siblings.RESULTS:
There was a pervasive relevance of both serious and non-serious talk about COVID-19 within the consultations recorded during the pandemic. Topics typical of a standard paediatric palliative care consultation often led to discussion of the pandemic. Clinicians (55%) and parents (45%) initiated talk about the pandemic.CONCLUSIONS:
Clinicians should not be surprised by the pervasiveness of COVID-19 or other pandemic talk within standard paediatric palliative care consultations. This awareness will enable clinicians to flexibly address family needs and concerns about pandemic-related matters that may impact health and wellbeing.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pediatric Nursing
/
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Telemedicine
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Remote Consultation
/
Pandemics
/
Hospice and Palliative Care Nursing
Type of study:
Qualitative research
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Male
/
Infant, Newborn
Country/Region as subject:
Oceania
Language:
English
Journal:
Palliat Med
Journal subject:
Health Services
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
0269216320950089
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