Quality of Care Provided by Pediatric Nurses for the Management of Fever in Children

Abstract

Background: Fever is a common childhood health problem faced by health care personnel including doctors, nurses and others in both hospitals and community settings. Lack of knowledge and the presence of conflicting information regarding management of children having fever influences the quality of care and children’s health. Purpose: To assess nurses’ knowledge and practices regarding management of fever in children. setting: The study was conducted in Pediatric Medical Department and Pediatric intensive care unit in Menoufia University Hospital. Design: A descriptive research was utilized to conduct the study. Sample: All nurses (48 nurses) who were working in the previously mentioned settings were included in this study. Instruments: Two instruments were used. Instrument one was a structured interviewing questionnaire. Instrument two was nurses’ clinical performance observational checklist. Results: Two thirds of nurses (64.4%) had unsatisfactory knowledge about fever. Also, all nurses had low level of practice regarding fever management. Conclusion: Nurses had unsatisfactory level of knowledge and low level of practices regarding management of fever in children. Recommendation: The study recommended that there was a serious need for improvement of nurses’ knowledge and practices in relation to fever management in children.