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Education for registered nurses who care for children with complex, continuing physiological needs
1Institute of Health and Community Studies, Bournemouth University, 9 Spear Road, Southampton, Hampshire, SO146UG, UK.
Insights
A new nursing education module aims to equip staff to better support children with complex health needs and their families, facilitating home care. This initiative addresses the critical shortage of trained professionals, improving care transitions from hospital to home.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nursing
- Healthcare Education
- Family-Centered Care
Background:
- Growing population of children with complex and continuing physiological needs requiring home-based care.
- Significant barrier to home discharge is the lack of trained staff for specialized pediatric care and family support.
- Existing post-registration nurse education inadequately addresses the specific needs of this client group and their families.
Purpose of the Study:
- To report on the rationale, development, design, and evaluation of a specialized nursing module for staff caring for children with complex needs.
- To enhance the capacity of healthcare professionals to provide comprehensive care for children with complex health conditions at home.
- To explore the integration of distance learning and inter-module collaboration in specialized pediatric nursing education.
Main Methods:
- Development and design of a post-registration nursing module focused on complex pediatric care.
- Evaluation of the module's content, delivery methods, and learning outcomes.
- Assessment of the potential for distance learning and the balance between practical learning and academic study.
Main Results:
- The study outlines the foundational principles and structure of the developed nursing module.
- Evaluation considered aspects such as module content relevance, collaborative learning opportunities, and flexible delivery modes.
- Initial findings inform the refinement of educational strategies for pediatric nurses caring for children with complex needs.
Conclusions:
- Specialized post-registration education is crucial for improving care for children with complex needs and their families.
- The developed module offers a framework to address the educational gap and enhance staff competency.
- Further evaluation is needed to confirm the module's effectiveness in facilitating home-based care and improving patient outcomes.
Abstract:
There is an increasing population of children who have complex and continuing physiological needs whose social, psychological, emotional and developmental needs are best met at home, rather than in a hospital environment. However, one of the many factors which can impede children who have complex and continuing health needs being discharged from hospital is a lack of staff who can provide care and support for them and their families. Increasing the number of staff who are able to provide such support may therefore assist in improving the provision of appropriate care for this group. However, despite the recognition of the needs of children with complex and continuing health needs and their families, there is currently a relative lack of post registration nurse education specific to this client group. This paper reports on the rationale for development, design, and evaluation of a module of study for staff who care for children with complex needs and their families. The evaluation includes module content, sharing learning with other modules of study, the potential for using distance learning approaches, and the potential tension between learning and academic study.
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