"It's been years and it still hurts": Paediatric Critical Care staff experiences of being involved in serious investigations at work: a qualitative study

Rachael Morrison; Esra Yeter; Hena Syed-Sabir; Isabelle Butcher; Heather Duncan; Sarah Webb; Rachel Shaw

doi:10.1007/s44253-024-00039-0

"It's been years and it still hurts": Paediatric Critical Care staff experiences of being involved in serious investigations at work: a qualitative study

Rachael Morrison, Esra Yeter, Hena Syed-Sabir, Isabelle Butcher^*, Heather Duncan, Sarah Webb, Rachel Shaw

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Background: Evidence conducted globally has shown that patient care improves when staff are well. Investigations, although necessary to understand errors and unanticipated events, can be distressing. Feelings of shame and guilt are associated with making mistakes and can lead to moral injury. Objective: To explore staff experiences of investigations to develop a staff care package. Design: Exploratory qualitative. Setting(s): Paediatric Critical Care (PCC) in a UK quaternary hospital. Participants: 14 doctors and nurses. Methods: PCC staff who had experienced an investigation were interviewed individually. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Fourteen interviews were conducted. Investigations involved Serious incidents, Disciplinary, and Professionalism cases. Four main themes related to: (1) Emotional impact; (2) Negotiating process; (3) Communication challenges; (4) Needing support. Conclusions: This research has identified aspects of the investigation process which can be upsetting for staff, cause unnecessary distress or moral injury. Findings informed a model for a Feelings First Care Pathway for Serious Investigations.

Original language	English
Article number	17
Pages (from-to)	2-7
Number of pages	6
Journal	Intensive Care Medicine – Paediatric and Neonatal
Volume	2
Issue number	17
Early online date	23 Apr 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s44253-024-00039-0
Publication status	Published - 23 Apr 2024

Bibliographical note

Copyright © The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Data Access Statement

No data are available Code availability not applicable.

Keywords

Well-being
Stress
Practice
Qualitative methods
Psychological distress

Access to Document

10.1007/s44253-024-00039-0

Morrison et al 2024 investigation study
Copyright © The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Final published version, 937 KBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

@article{430d7b8f4bad4c83919322798a432430,

title = "{"}It's been years and it still hurts{"}: Paediatric Critical Care staff experiences of being involved in serious investigations at work: a qualitative study",

abstract = "Background: Evidence conducted globally has shown that patient care improves when staff are well. Investigations, although necessary to understand errors and unanticipated events, can be distressing. Feelings of shame and guilt are associated with making mistakes and can lead to moral injury. Objective: To explore staff experiences of investigations to develop a staff care package. Design: Exploratory qualitative. Setting(s): Paediatric Critical Care (PCC) in a UK quaternary hospital. Participants: 14 doctors and nurses. Methods: PCC staff who had experienced an investigation were interviewed individually. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Fourteen interviews were conducted. Investigations involved Serious incidents, Disciplinary, and Professionalism cases. Four main themes related to: (1) Emotional impact; (2) Negotiating process; (3) Communication challenges; (4) Needing support. Conclusions: This research has identified aspects of the investigation process which can be upsetting for staff, cause unnecessary distress or moral injury. Findings informed a model for a Feelings First Care Pathway for Serious Investigations.",

keywords = "Well-being, Stress, Practice, Qualitative methods, Psychological distress",

author = "Rachael Morrison and Esra Yeter and Hena Syed-Sabir and Isabelle Butcher and Heather Duncan and Sarah Webb and Rachel Shaw",

note = "Copyright {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article{\textquoteright}s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article{\textquoteright}s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",

year = "2024",

month = apr,

day = "23",

doi = "10.1007/s44253-024-00039-0",

language = "English",

volume = "2",

pages = "2--7",

number = "17",

}

"It's been years and it still hurts": Paediatric Critical Care staff experiences of being involved in serious investigations at work: a qualitative study. / Morrison, Rachael; Yeter, Esra; Syed-Sabir, Hena et al.
In: Intensive Care Medicine – Paediatric and Neonatal, Vol. 2, No. 17, 17, 23.04.2024, p. 2-7.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - "It's been years and it still hurts": Paediatric Critical Care staff experiences of being involved in serious investigations at work: a qualitative study

AU - Morrison, Rachael

AU - Yeter, Esra

AU - Syed-Sabir, Hena

AU - Butcher, Isabelle

AU - Duncan, Heather

AU - Webb, Sarah

AU - Shaw, Rachel

N1 - Copyright © The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

PY - 2024/4/23

Y1 - 2024/4/23

N2 - Background: Evidence conducted globally has shown that patient care improves when staff are well. Investigations, although necessary to understand errors and unanticipated events, can be distressing. Feelings of shame and guilt are associated with making mistakes and can lead to moral injury. Objective: To explore staff experiences of investigations to develop a staff care package. Design: Exploratory qualitative. Setting(s): Paediatric Critical Care (PCC) in a UK quaternary hospital. Participants: 14 doctors and nurses. Methods: PCC staff who had experienced an investigation were interviewed individually. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Fourteen interviews were conducted. Investigations involved Serious incidents, Disciplinary, and Professionalism cases. Four main themes related to: (1) Emotional impact; (2) Negotiating process; (3) Communication challenges; (4) Needing support. Conclusions: This research has identified aspects of the investigation process which can be upsetting for staff, cause unnecessary distress or moral injury. Findings informed a model for a Feelings First Care Pathway for Serious Investigations.

AB - Background: Evidence conducted globally has shown that patient care improves when staff are well. Investigations, although necessary to understand errors and unanticipated events, can be distressing. Feelings of shame and guilt are associated with making mistakes and can lead to moral injury. Objective: To explore staff experiences of investigations to develop a staff care package. Design: Exploratory qualitative. Setting(s): Paediatric Critical Care (PCC) in a UK quaternary hospital. Participants: 14 doctors and nurses. Methods: PCC staff who had experienced an investigation were interviewed individually. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Fourteen interviews were conducted. Investigations involved Serious incidents, Disciplinary, and Professionalism cases. Four main themes related to: (1) Emotional impact; (2) Negotiating process; (3) Communication challenges; (4) Needing support. Conclusions: This research has identified aspects of the investigation process which can be upsetting for staff, cause unnecessary distress or moral injury. Findings informed a model for a Feelings First Care Pathway for Serious Investigations.

KW - Well-being

KW - Stress

KW - Practice

KW - Qualitative methods

KW - Psychological distress

UR - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44253-024-00039-0

U2 - 10.1007/s44253-024-00039-0

DO - 10.1007/s44253-024-00039-0

M3 - Article

VL - 2

SP - 2

EP - 7

JO - Intensive Care Medicine – Paediatric and Neonatal

JF - Intensive Care Medicine – Paediatric and Neonatal

IS - 17

M1 - 17

ER -

"It's been years and it still hurts": Paediatric Critical Care staff experiences of being involved in serious investigations at work: a qualitative study

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Access Statement

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this