Intensive care admission in paediatric and young adult cancer patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of the lived experience of onco-critical care and the support needs of paediatric and young adult cancer patients requiring intensive care admission
IRAS ID
367141
Contact name
Shaumya Kularajan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Glasgow
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 1 days
Research summary
Children and young adults with cancer have been living longer thanks to new, better treatments. However, these treatments are very strong and can harm healthy parts of the body. People can still become very unwell or even die from their cancer.
Sometimes patients are so unwell they need to go to part of a hospital called an intensive care unit (ICU). Here, medical staff use machines to help the body work until the patient gets better. This is called critical illness, and it can affect their future health and survival.
This research will study children and young adults aged 2-25 with cancer. We aim to answer the following questions: What is the impact of intensive care admission during cancer on patients and their families, in terms of quality of life?This will be done by interviewing young people aged 16-25 who have been diagnosed with cancer and who have experienced intensive care admission in the past 3-36 months. We will also interview parents and caregivers of children aged 2-25 with cancer who have been admitted to intensive care in the past 3-36 months.
We are aiming to find out where there are gaps in support and care and how the experiences could be made more positive.Having a better understanding of the support needs of patients affected by critical illness in cancer will inform service planning, helping doctors and hospital staff to give better care to patients.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
26/WS/0018
Date of REC Opinion
9 Mar 2026
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion