Assessment Of Nurses Knowledge Practice And Associated Factors Towards Pediatrics Palliative Care Of Nurses Working At Selected Hospitals In Addis Ababa Ethiopia
To provide quality pediatric palliative care at the end of life or with life threatening illness,rnnurse must have good knowledge and practice about pediatric palliative care . Palliative care isrnapproach that improves the quality of life for children and their families facing the problem.rnPalliative care is new and specialized field for nurses, very little is known about the type ofrnservices offered and the readiness of the nurse to provide palliative care. Knowledge andrncompetences of optimal pain assessment and management at the end – of life enhances nurse’srnpractical knowledge. Knowledge of palliative care is essential for nurses, especially inrnpediatrics’, where palliative care is less common than with adults.rnObjectives: Assessment of nurses’ knowledge practice and associated factors towards pediatricsrnpalliative care of nurses working at selected Hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.rnMaterial and methods: A cross sectional quantitative study design was carried out on 252rnnurses working in selected hospitals of Addis Ababa. For qualitative study FGD was conductedrnin three groups, one group contains 6-8members. The study was conducted from November tornJune 2014. Five governmental and two nongovernmental hospitals was selected. These hospitalsrnselected because they admit children of different age for care and treatment. Palliative Care Quizrnfor Nursing (PCQN) and practical questions tools from African palliative care Associationrn/palliative outcome scale for Africa was used. EPI-INFO and SPSS soft ware statistical packagernwere applied for data entry and analysis .P-value less than 0.05 were considered as statisticallyrnsignificantrnResult: The response rate was 252 (98.8%) of the total 249 respondents. Out of total studyrnparticipants only 37(14.8%) had good knowledge toward pediatric palliative care. Bachelor andrnMaster level of education were significantly associated with knowledge of pediatric palliativerncare. Training on palliative was significantly associated with knowledge of nurses towardsrnpalliative care. Concerning their knowledge aspect practice more than half 243(97.5 %) of thernrespondent had poor knowledge aspect of practice towards pediatric palliative care andrn190(76.3%)rninitiaternpediatricrnpalliativerncarerndiscussionrntornthernfamilyrnduringrndiagnosis.148(59.4%), inform to the family their child’s terminal stage illness. Age, sex year ofrnworking experience pediatric ward had significant association with knowledge aspect practice ofrnpediatric palliative care.rnConclusion and RecommendationrnThe finding of this study show nurses participated in this study had poor knowledge (85.2 %) andrnknowledge aspect practice (97.5%) had poor towards pediatric palliative care. Therefore pediatricrnpalliative should be integrated in to the national health policy and incorporate in nursingrncurriculum .Training should also be delivered in this field to nurses in hospital.rnKey words: Addis Ababa, knowledge, nurse, palliative care, pediatrics and pract