The Lived Experience of Pediatric Nurse-caregiver Relationship in the PICU: a Descriptive Phenomenological Study

Pediatric intensive care nurses care not only for critically ill children but also for their caregivers. Under unfamiliar and critical situations, caregivers demand nursing care to ease their negative emotions and to cope. Pediatric intensive care nurse is the bridge to connect the healthcare team to the caregivers in the pediatric intensive care units (PICU). Previous literature discussed the relationship between nurses and family caregivers as therapeutic and meaningful, which consisted of elements like mutual respect, empathy, support, and more. Nurses' and family caregivers' roles shifted and changed in different times and settings. However, the relationship between the two had not been acknowledged in the PICU context. A review of the literature showed that the interaction between the pediatric intensive care nurse and the family caregivers involved six elements. Consequently, a conceptual framework was developed which may help represent the essence of the nurse-caregiver relationship.

This study aims to explore the lived experience as to the meaning of nurse-caregiver relationship among pediatric intensive care nurses in Hong Kong. Descriptive phenomenological approach will be adopted to gain an accurate and unbiased description of the lived experience. An estimated ten pediatric intensive care nurses in Hong Kong will be invited to undergo individual, in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Hence to obtain pediatric intensive care nurses' detailed information so as to reveal the essence of Nurse-Caregiver Relationship in PICU.

Data will be analyzed using Colaizzi's seven-step strategy as it aligns with the study aim and is able to obtain the meaning of experience. This qualitative study may disclose the nurse-caregiver relationship and the complex nursing relationship role in the context of PICU in Hong Kong and allow clinical reasoning to improve FCC via understanding pediatric intensive care nurses' experience.