Parental Perspectives on Life-Altering News in Emergency Settings: A Qualitative Evaluation

1. Parental Perspectives on Life-Altering News in
Emergency Settings: A Qualitative Evaluation
Tim Visclosky, MD, Adam Kadri, MD, Laura Sedig, MD, Lyndsey Reynolds, MD,
Margaret Wolff, MD, MHPE

2. Life-Altering News - Things we Know
● It is difficult
● It often falls to EM providers
● It causes stress and we feel unprepared
● Little evidence to guide us

3. Emergency Setting
Life-Altering News - The Unknown
● How to do it in Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Physician
Parents
Patient

4. Emergency Setting
Life-Altering News - The Unknown
● How to do it in Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Physician
Parents
Patient

5. Methods - Virtual Asynchronous Focus
Groups

6. Methods - Recruitment
52 Facebook groups
approached for recruitment
19 Facebook groups posted
recruitment message
63 individuals expressed
interest in joining study
28 individuals
participated in study
35 ineligible or lost to
follow-up
33 group administrators
did not respond

7. Analysis
Methods - Groups

8. Results

9. Results
“In 1972 my sister was very
sick… they didn't test for
Diabetes and she went into
a coma... I only associated
this diagnosis with death
due to my past.”
Lens:
●Medical experiences
●Medical knowledge
●Outside stressors
●Patient factors
●Outpatient encounters

10. Results
“I could tell that she
debated how to tell us but
ultimately she decided that
a straight forward response
was appropriate and I
appreciated that.”
Encounter:
●Communication style
●Timing
●Setting
●Participants
●Information shared

11. Results
“I had a chance to compose
myself before going back in
her room… I don’t think it
would have been good for
her to see how I broke down.
This gave us a chance to
decide how we wanted to tell
her.”
Response:
●Emotional
●Physical
●Control
●Information desired

12. Results
“We were all traumatized
by how the ER doctor
delivered the news so
moving forward my
daughter would get very
anxious when she had to see
her team of doctors.”
Impact:
●Parent and team
●Parent and self
●Parent and community
●Parent and family

13. Results

14. Discussion
● Understand
● Control
● Manage
● Respect

15. Special Thanks!
● Meg Wolff
● Adam Kadri
● PEM Fellowship SOC