Black Seed Oil, Bentonite Clay, and Probiotics: A Comprehensive Holistic Cure for Clostridium difficile Infection in a 2-Year-Old Female Child.

There has been a rise in antibiotic resistance in secondary conditions such as Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) due to overuse of antibiotics. Oral antibiotics are used to treat C. difficile, which further disrupts the intestinal flora resulting in unwanted side effects. Naturopathic treatments often have fewer side effects and lower secondary infection risk than pharmaceutical interventions making them ideal for pediatric use. This case report describes the effective treatment of a pediatric clinical case of C. difficile using naturopathic and complementary alternative medicines (CAMs) including black seed oil (Nigella sativa), bentonite clay, and probiotics. A healthy two-year-old patient presented to a pediatrician with symptoms of, and subsequently confirmed, C. difficile after having been recently hospitalized and treated for a gluteal abscess and cellulitis using clindamycin, vancomycin, and piperacillin/tazobactam. Through a shared decision-making process, the patient's mother and providers developed a treatment plan for the C. difficile infection (CDI), which included black seed oil, bentonite clay, and Lactobacillus probiotics. No C. difficile was detected via stool immunoassay after 4 days of combined CAM therapy. Our results underscore the need for additional research regarding the effectiveness of naturopathic CAMs including black seed oil, bentonite clay, and probiotics as alternatives to antibiotic treatment of CDI in children.

Practices following the death of a loved one reported by adults from 14 countries or cultural/ethnic group.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to examine the reported ritual practices (dealing with the deceased's remains, wake, funeral, burial and celebration) of White non-Hispanic, Black non-Hispanic and Hispanic/Latino adults in their country of origin or ethnic or cultural group in the United States following the death of a loved one. Design: This descriptive study is a secondary analysis from a longitudinal mixed-methods study that examined parents' health and functioning following the death of a child. Methods: Adult parents whose child died in neonatal intensive care units or paediatric intensive care units were recruited from four hospitals and from death records. Data were collected from 61 adult parents at 7 and 13 months postinfant/child death using semi-structured interviews about the child's death. Only those parents who responded to questions about usual death practices in their country of origin or cultural group were included in the data analysis. Results: Thirty-two adults from 14 countries reported practices in their country or cultural group after a loved one's death including keeping the front door closed, walking funeral processions with a band playing, the deceased in a car accompanied by family and friends, fireworks, making home altars for deceased spirits with food and water for adults, toys and candy for children and no TV or radio for sometime. Relevance to clinical practice: For community health nurses, understanding these practices is important in being sensitive and appropriate around the death. Asking the family about specific practices they hope to carry out and noting this in the family's record will help alert providers to the family's wishes at this challenging time.

Death Rituals Reported by White, Black, and Hispanic Parents Following the ICU Death of an Infant or Child.

UNLABELLED: To examine rituals (disposing remains, wakes, funerals/burials, celebrations) of White, Black, Hispanic parents post ICU infant/child death. DESIGN AND METHODS: Qualitative design, 63 parents completed English or Spanish semi-structured interviews at 7 & 13months after infant's/child's death. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and entered into Atlas.ti for analysis. An inductive approach to thematization was used to develop codes. RESULTS: Parents: mean age 35.1years (SD=9.03); 33% Black, 27% White, 40% Hispanic; from 17 countries. Three themes emerged: immediately after death - shock and stress, needing help with arrangements, decisions on burial or cremation (conflicts due to finances, religion, culture), when and where to hold wakes, funerals/burials. Wakes and funerals--who prepares child's body, appropriate dress (deceased child, mourners), who can come (cultural restrictions),--by child age, parent choice, culture, religion, country. After burial/cremation--being with family, milestone celebrations. CONCLUSION: Child death is devastating for parents, other children, grandparents, and family members. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Rituals after child death require decisions about the child's remains, wakes, funerals/burials at time of great pain for parents. This is especially true for newly immigrated parents and those with language barriers where making arrangements is especially hard and often very isolating. Health professionals who provide support need to be cognizant of practice differences based on religion, culture, economics, family traditions, and individual preference and provide as much support and resource as possible. A list of religious leaders representing the community's cultures and funeral service providers who may provide lower cost burials/cremations is helpful.

Parent's perceptions of health care providers actions around child ICU death: what helped, what did not.

PURPOSE: To describe parents' perspectives of health care provider actions that helped or did not around the time of infant/child's intensive care unit (ICU) death. Semistructured interviews with 63 parents (Black, White, and Hispanic) 7 months post infant/child death were audio-recorded, transcribed, analyzed, and themes identified. FINDINGS: What helped most: compassionate, sensitive staff; understandable explanations of infant's/child's condition; experienced, competent nurses; providers did everything to help infant/child; and parents' involvement in care decisions. What did not help: insensitive, nonsupportive staff; conflict between providers and parents; communication problems around the death; inexperienced nurses and doctors; parents not understanding child's disease, care, complications. CONCLUSIONS: Compassionate, sensitive staff and understandable explanations of children's conditions were most helpful; insensitive, nonsupportive staff least helpful by gender, racial group, or care setting. Conflict between providers and parents was most problematic for minority parents and mothers.