Working in the dark: a hermeneutic inquiry into health professionals' stories of ketamine sedation with children.
Michael Neufeld, Deborah Spence, Tineke Water
Contemporary nurse October 2017 DOI: 10.1080/10376178.2017.1362956 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Qualitative study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 7 |
| Population | Health professionals in nursing, medicine, paramedicine, and play therapy who undertake paediatric ketamine sedation |
| Topics | Ketamine Esketamine |
| Keywords | Anaesthetics Child Dissociative Hermeneutics Morals Paediatrics |
| Key findings | Health professionals describe paediatric ketamine sedation as a balance between gaining control in a chaotic emergency setting and protecting children from harm. They report using "dream-seeding" to try to mitigate negative psychotropic events, and the authors argue that perceived benefit and harm are weighed without full certainty, recommending further research into children's experiences and into dream-seeding, plus clinician education on non-physiological risk. |
Abstract
Physiological risks of ketamine have been well researched, yet for health professionals (HPs) undertaking paediatric ketamine sedation, questions of benefit and harm remain. What are health care professionals' experiences of undertaking ketamine sedation with children? Hermeneutic narrative. The study comprised hermeneutic narrative analysis of stories from seven HPs in nursing, medicine, paramedicine, and play therapy. The theme, "seeking to control and protect" reveals the chaotic nature of paediatric emergency work and how ketamine can deliver control. The second theme "working in the dark" acknowledges that HPs try to balance perceived benefit and harm, adopting "dream-seeding" in an attempt to mitigate potentially negative psychotropic events. The study recommends further research into children's experiences of ketamine sedation and the use of dream-seeding to mitigate negative emergence phenomena. It also recommends education for clinicians to increase awareness of the potential for non-physiological risk and harm.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on ketamine, most cited first.
Citations in the library
Cites 3
- A Review of the Nonmedical Use of Ketamine: Use, Users and Consequences Journal of Psychoactive Drugs December 1, 2000
- Near-Death States Reported in a Sample of 50 Misusers Substance Use & Misuse March 1, 2010
- The Ketamine Model of the Near-Death Experience: A Central Role for the N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Journal of Near-Death Studies March 1, 1997