Journal of pediatric nursing
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Although many hospitals offer a surgical preparation program to children and families, minimal research has been conducted specifically on preparation by child life specialists. The purpose of this double-blind intervention study was to determine if children prepared for day surgery by a child life specialist exhibited less anxiety than those who received routine standard of care. One hundred forty-two children, aged between 5 and 11 years old, undergoing elective otolaryngology surgery completed the study. ⋯ The increase in anxiety scores in the nonintervention group suggests that children could benefit from preoperative preparation. Health professionals, including nurses, may impact children's abilities to cope with a surgical process. The information in this study will be useful in deciding whether all children, not just those with a perceived need, should be prepared prior to an elective day surgery.
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As part of a larger study that examined pain experience, pain management, and pain outcomes among children with sickle cell disease, functional status (sleep, food intake, and activity levels) was examined during hospitalization for acute painful episodes. Children were asked to rate the amount of pain they experienced as well as the amount of time they slept, the amount of food they ate, and the amount of activity they had everyday. Children reported high levels of pain, which showed only a small decrease throughout hospitalization, and had disrupted sleep and wake patterns, decreased food intake, and decreased activity levels. Nurses need to routinely monitor functional status during acute painful episodes so that strategies to promote adequate sleep, food intake, and activity may be incorporated to minimize long-term negative outcomes in children with sickle cell disease.
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The nurse recruitment program at our private children's hospital provides an opportunity for family members of employees who are interested in becoming a nurse to learn more about pediatric nursing. This article describes our 5-hour recruitment program that includes didactic information, a hospital tour, and clinical experience through "nurse shadowing." Participants, presenters, and nurse preceptors have favorably evaluated this program. Programs like this can be used by other institutions to encourage and maintain interest in nursing and the health care professions.
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Nursing telephone triage is a mechanism whereby parents call for advice and referrals. One common call in pediatrics concerns children's fever, which may be managed at home. Giving parents proper advice may avoid unnecessary visits. ⋯ Data were collected using an existing database to determine parents' preference for location of care before and actual location of care after a call. Of the 110 calls, 73 parents wanted a physician or emergency department visit but 53 followed nursing advice for home care. Findings suggest that although most parents wanted to have their child seen, a majority followed nursing advice for home care.
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The purpose of this study was to describe a population of infants undergoing cardiac surgery at a regional tertiary medical center and the relationship between age, weight, number of other diagnoses, and length of stay in the hospital and presence of complications. Nearly two thirds of the infants in the sample (n = 551; age, birth to 365 days) were younger than 28 days with a modal weight of 3.2 kg. There were 56 defects in the infants and 152 operative procedures studied. ⋯ As operative age increased by 1 day, the odds of complications decreased by 0.63%. The findings from this study can be used as evidence to support care that nurses give to neonates and infants undergoing cardiac surgery. These findings provide support for integration of this information into the informed consent process.