Evaluation of Nurses Performance of Standardized Palliative Care for Oncology Children

Background: Standardized Palliative Care (SPC) is an approach that improves the
quality of life of pediatric patients and their families facing problems associated with life-
threatening illness. Aim of the Study: Evaluate nurses' performance of standardized
palliative care for oncology children, through: Assessing knowledge, and practice of nurses
regarding SPC for oncology children. Research design: Descriptive design was used for
conducting this study; a purposive sample consisted of 65 nurses who were providing
palliative care for oncology children and oncology children participated in this study. Setting:
This study was conducted in the Out-patients and In-patients Pediatric Department at
Children's Hospital affiliated to Ain Shams University and Department of Oncology
Children at Menoufiya University Hospital. Data collected through using five tools
including: I: Interview questionnaire which consisted of 2 parts: Part1: Nurses’ socio
demographic characteristics and children characteristics. Part2: nurses’ knowledge level. II:
Observation checklist to evaluate nurses' practice. III: Palliative Performance Scale to assess
nurses' performance regarding application scale. IV: Resource Utilization Groups - Activities
of Daily Living Scale to assess the level of functional dependence for providing palliative
care. V: Pain scale to assess pain. Results: Most of the studied nurses had good knowledge
towards SPC, but one third of them had training of palliative care, and most of them had
competent practice towards SPC. There was significant relation between nurses' total
knowledge and their total practice regarding SPC for oncology children (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Most of the studied nurses have a good knowledge and majority of them have
competent performance about standardized palliative care for oncology children.
Recommendations: From finding of this study, it was recommended that educational
programs and courses for nurses who work in pediatric oncology units about palliative care.