Effect of Palliative Care Educational Intervention on Pediatric Nurses' Performance and Self-Competence in Caring for Children with Critical Illness

Background: Palliative care has recently become imperative in child care. Pediatric nurses need to boost their education in this area to be able to offer proper care for children with critical illnesses. Purpose: To determine the effect of palliative care educational intervention on pediatric nurses' performance and self-competence in caring for children with critical illness. Design: A quasi-experimental design (pre, post, and follow-ups). Setting: The study was undertaken at the pediatric intensive care unit in Beni-Suef University Hospital. Sampling: A convenience sample of ninety-two pediatric nurses was selected. Instruments: Four instruments were utilized: Structured interview questionnaire sheet, Knowledge of nurses about palliative care, Observational checklists for the pediatric nurses' practice, Nurses' attitude towards palliative care, Palliative care nursing self-competence scale. Results: After the application of the educational intervention, all four variables had been highly statistically improved with over two thirds of the pediatric nurses exhibited good knowledge, three-quarters had competent practice, over three-quarters displayed a positive attitude and nearly three-quarters had high self-competence. Moreover, at the follow-up all variables remained highly significantly improved. Conclusion: The education intervention had an effective influence on nurses' performance and self-competence in palliative care. Recommendation: On-going application of specialized training programs in palliative care to enrich pediatric nurses' performance and self-competence.