Health Care Transition Planning: Educational Needs of Pediatric Nurses and Pediatric Nurse Practitioners

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose was to identify the educational needs of pediatric nurses and pediatric nurse practitioners providing direct care to transition-aged youth with chronic illness and disability and to identify strategies to develop health care transition planning (HCTP) expertise. Method: Mixed-methods descriptive analyses were performed on survey data extracted from a larger national study exploring the provision of HCTP activities performed by nurses of two pediatric nursing professional organizations. Results: Items querying educational needs were completed by 1,162 pediatric nurses serving in advanced practice and staff roles. Twenty percent reported having specialized HCTP education. Of which more than half received it outside of the workplace. Factor analysis revealed two constructs explaining 73.4% of the variance in nurses’ reported level of knowledge. Discussion: HCTP education and the development of nurse-led services to facilitate optimal health care transitions outcomes are necessitated. Academia and service have a shared responsibility in educating nurses.