Characteristics of children with tracheostomy opened in pediatric intensive care unit and evaluation of the quality of life and general psychological wellness of children caregivers.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in the quality of life of the families or caregivers of the patients who were hospitalized in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of Ege University Faculty of Medicine and who underwent tracheostomy were working. Materials and Methods: A total of 34 patients and their relatives caring for these patients were included in the study. The data of the patients were obtained by scanning epicrisis and files. The characteristics of the caregivers were obtained by questionnaire questions. Quality of life was assessed using the Psychological General Well Being Index (PGWBI) test. Results: 50% of the patients were male and 50% were female. The mean age of the patients was 5.6 years. The mean time since opening a tracheostomy was 13.9 months. Twenty-five patients (73.5%) had chronic disease causing tracheostomy, while 9 patients (26.5%) were admitted to the İntensive Care Unit for acute causes and tracheostomy was performed. When the quality of life of the caregivers was evaluated, the mean score was 50.17 and the median value was 51.5. According to the test results, 25 people were low (73.5%), 4 people were moderate (11.8%), 5 people (14.4%) were highly psychologically affected. When we compared the age of the patients, the presence of chronic disease, the age of the caregiver, the education level, the time elapsed since the opening of the tracheostomy, and the quality of life, there was no significant difference. Conclusion: In this study, not only was learn the quality of life and psychological well-being of the caregivers, but also the duration of hospitalization, tracheostomy opening time, indications for tracheostomy opening and causes of tracheostomy due to chronic or acute disease were investigated. The quality of life of the caregivers was affected irrespective of length of stay, age of the caregiver, educational status and age of the patient. This effect was low in the majority of patients. Key words: Tracheostomy, quality of life, indication.