Affirming parental love in the pediatric intensive care unit.

OBJECTIVE: To argue that that there has been a remarkable absence of discussion of the importance of parental love in the pediatric intensive care literature, and that this silence has been to the detriment of both medical and nursing pediatric intensive care practice.
CONCLUSIONS: Research and anecdotal literature to date have focused on the negative changes that occur in the parental role during a child's pediatric intensive care unit admission. In contrast, the love that a parent holds for his or her child is profoundly positive and stable; it is not a "role" that can be taken away or threatened. It is proposed that the recognition and acknowledgment of this love will alter the critical care encounter for parents, physicians, and nurses and result in a better understanding by the staff of parental attitudes and behaviors. This may be particularly effective in situations where it is perceived that unreasonable demands are being made for futile therapy.