PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE UNIT: CHILD VIEW ON THE HOSPITALIZATION PROCESS

Hospital internment in childhood is a stressful event because it takes the child away from the family routine and inserts them in an unknown environment, where their own security is often threatened. This article aims to know the view of children about their internment in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Descriptive and exploratory study with a qualitative approach, developed with seven school children between 7 and 12 years old. The data collection technique was a semi-structured interview with questions about the reason of hospitalization and knowledge about the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. The testimonials were analyzed by the content analysis technique. After the analysis of the interviews, the following categories emerged: knowledge about the reason of being in the hospital and knowledge about the hospitalization in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. It is possible to observe that the children are straightforward, they explain succinctly the reason of hospitalization. Children are rational and direct. The answer could have been influenced by what their parents or other people with whom they had contact told them during the hospitalization, but children draw their own conclusions, formulate their diagnosis and justify their hospitalization. The hospital internment and mainly the admission of children in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit are moments of great anxiety and anguish lived by the children themselves, by the parents and relatives. In general, the children know very well what is happening with their bodies, the reason why they are sick, and they also understand the need of hospitalization for their total restoration.