Abstract

Pediatric intensive care units are the units in which children between 1 month and 18 year-old in critical condition are monitored. Hospitalizations in intensive care units may be a cause of trauma for both children and their families. The children in pediatric intensive care units may have growth and developmental disorders and repeated hospitalizations may occur because of the traumatic process. The families with their children in intensive care units may have problems in dealing with this process because of the treatment and care of child and other problems. Therefore, nursing care in the pediatric intensive care unit should start before the child is admitted to the unit and continue until the process of adaptation to post-discharge social life. In this review, the problems experienced by the child and the family in the intensive care unit and the methods health care for empowerment of the child and the family, including the admission to the unit and the post-discharge period will be examined.