Digital Psychosocial Follow-up for Childhood Critical Illness Survivors: A Qualitative Interview Study on Health Professionals’ Perspectives

– The whole hospital is undergoing a digitization process.

– Forced video communication with Skype during the COVID-19 pandemic tends to be beneficial for children with bowel problems, children aged 15–16 years, and children living far from the hospital.

– The digital platform “HC And” is successfully used in other hospitals.

– There exist many promising digital solutions the hospital could use (e.g., telehealth, apps, VR, technology in procedures, and technology to socialize).

– Children generally tend to have high digital skills.

– The hospital is in the process of creating its own mascot to help children feel better in hospital settings.

– The frequency of psychosocial follow-up for childhood critical illness survivors tends to differ for diverse medical conditions.

– There is a tendency for survivors not to be referred to the psychosocial follow-up despite the fact they have experienced trauma during their hospitalization.

– The psychosocial needs tend to vary with the child’s age.

– The psychosocial follow-up tends to vary in content with the child’s age.

– Compared to girls, boys tend more likely to withdraw from the psychosocial follow-up even though they also could need it.

– The psychosocial follow-up tends to be better the closer the child lives to the hospital.

– The guardians of the childhood critical illness survivor consent to or request the offer of psychosocial follow-up on behalf of the child until the child is 16 years old.

– Not all families are aware of the psychosocial follow-up offer.

– Immigrant families are more likely to withdraw the psychosocial follow-up compared to non-immigrant families due to concerns about a connection between child and adolescent psychiatry and the Norwegian child protection service.

– The family tends to be an essential part of the evaluation of the child’s offer.

– Pediatricians evaluate if the child receives the offer.

– The timing of when the pediatrician provides the offer could influence the decision.

– The hospital currently tends to lack the use of digital solutions.

– The hospital lacks uniformity and guidelines for the use of digital solutions.

– Video communication could hinder relationship-building for the child compared to face-to-face communication.

– Many children tend to have high screen time and are so obsessed that they forget their necessary needs.