Assessment of Nurses' Performance in Implementation of Medical Prescriptions at Pediatric Critical Care Settings

Abstract

Background: Medical prescription is a physician's order for the preparation and administration of a drug or device for a pediatric patient. It is considered as a potent way of communication and collaboration between health care providers. Aim: The aim of this study was to assess nurses' performance in implementation of medical prescriptions at pediatric critical care settings. Research design: A descriptive explanatory design used to conduct this study. Setting: The study was conducted at pediatric critical care settings namely: Neonatal intensive care unit, Pediatric intensive care units and Emergency unit at Children's Hospital affiliated to Ain Shams University Hospitals. Subjects: A Convenient sample of 60 nurses who are working at the above mentioned settings regardless their characteristics. Data collection tools: involved; Pre-designed interview questionnaire sheet to gather data related to characteristics of the studied nurses and their knowledge about medical prescriptions, Attitude-type rating scale, Assessment sheet for the medical prescriptions and Assessment sheet for the studied nurses' documentation related to the implementation of medical prescriptions. Results: The results of the study revealed that, Х͞ +SD of the studied nurses age was (33.17±7.30), most of them were females, almost the majority of them had satisfactory total knowledge about medical prescriptions, more than three quarters of them had total positive attitude towards the implementation of medical prescriptions and about two thirds of medical prescriptions evaluated by the researcher were complete. Conclusion: The studied nurses' total knowledge was satisfactory, they had positive attitude and poor documentation related to implementation of medical prescriptions. Recommendation: Provide continuous education program for nurses working at pediatric critical care settings about medical prescriptions importance, implementation, and documentation.