Clinical holding: ethical guidance for children's nurses working in the UK.

This article explores ethical decision-making surrounding clinical holding of children and young people in healthcare environments with the aim of enhancing autonomy and engagement on their behalf. A considerable body of evidence, published over the last 20 years, suggests that this complex and challenging area of practice is not always well managed, with mixed messages about the nature of consent, choice and negotiated practice countered by best interests decisions taking precedence ahead of the child's wishes. An ethical framework is proposed comprising four levels of value-based interventions and how they may be applied in clinical practice, allowing for increased engagement, empowerment and support on behalf of children and young people in relation to clinical holding decisions.

Developing a website to demonstrate clinical holding techniques.

Healthcare staff routinely use clinical holding to help infants, children or young people stay still when treatment is being administered, to prevent children or young people from interfering with the treatment, or when invasive examinations are being carried out. However, healthcare staff rarely have any formal discussion with children and young people, or their parents, on the techniques used for clinical holding. Visual tools are important when talking to children or young people about their healthcare, and a website with images of clinical holds would allow staff to discuss relevant holds with their patients. In this article, we describe a collaboration between Birmingham City University and Birmingham Children's Hospital to develop a website that presents 3D images of clinical holds, outlining how we introduced it to staff in the clinical areas that would benefit from it and how we have been evaluating its effectiveness. We hope this website will formalise the professional discussion of clinical hold techniques. This will allow information on the appropriate holds for different situations to be documented, which will enhance best practice. In addition, the website should provide information needed to allow children, young people and their parents to give true, informed consent for any procedures they need.

Clinical holding with children who display behaviours that challenge.

Nurses hold children to administer treatment, prevent treatment interference and undertake clinical assessments, which can sometimes be invasive, as part of their regular duties. Clinical holding ensures this treatment or assessment is carried out safely, however, it has been reported that there is little training available in this area. This article explores the prevalent clinical holding techniques used by nursing staff when caring for children with behaviours that challenge. As an initial insight into what the researchers hope will become a more in-depth 2-year study, this investigation looks to explore current practice when holding children and the factors influencing this. It is hoped that this will inform the development of a training package offered to nurses when caring for these children. Thirteen semi-structured interviews took place with a small group of nurses, which were given thematic analysis. The overarching themes influencing holding practice were the nursing role itself along with intrinsic and external factors.