Defining a "Good Death" in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

BACKGROUND: Societal attitudes about end-of-life events are at odds with how, where, and when children die. In addition, parents' ideas about what constitutes a "good death" in a pediatric intensive care unit vary widely.

OBJECTIVE: To synthesize parents' perspectives on end-of-life care in the pediatric intensive care unit in order to define the characteristics of a good death in this setting from the perspectives of parents.

METHODS: A concept analysis was conducted of parents' views of a good death in the pediatric intensive care unit. Empirical studies of parents who had experienced their child's death in the inpatient setting were identified through database searches.

RESULTS: The concept analysis allowed the definition of antecedents, attributes, and consequences of a good death. Empirical referents and exemplar cases of care of a dying child in the pediatric intensive care unit serve to further operationalize the concept.

CONCLUSIONS: Conceptual knowledge of what constitutes a good death from a parent's perspective may allow pediatric nurses to care for dying children in a way that promotes parents' coping with bereavement and continued bonds and memories of the deceased child. The proposed conceptual model synthesizes characteristics of a good death into actionable attributes to guide bedside nursing care of the dying child.