Impact of Telenursing Program about Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt Care on Mothers' Knowledge and Complications Occurred among Children.

Introduction: Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt (VP) is one of the most commonly performed neurosurgical procedures and is necessary to treat hydrocephalus. Complications related to VP placement are common. Nurses play a vital role in providing knowledge and practices for mothers of children with VP shunt. Telenursing is delivering nursing care and conducting nursing practice by using technology and application of telenursing used for consultation, education, monitoring, and the evaluation of health care outcomes. Aim of the study: evaluate the impact of telenursing program about VP shunt care on mothers' knowledge and complications occurred for their children.  Research Design: quasi experimental design and pretest- posttest design was utilized fulfill the current study's goal. Setting: The study was conducted in the inpatient pediatric surgical department (neurosurgery unit) at Cairo University Specialized Pediatric Hospital (CUSPH). Participants: A purposive sample of 60 mothers of children who were experiencing placement of VP shunt will participate in the study, divided equally to study and control groups. Data collection tools: structured interview questionnaire, structured questionnaire for mothers' knowledge regarding care of children with VP shunt (pre and posttest), and postoperative VP shunt complications questionnaire. Results:  there were highly statistically significant differences concerning mothers’ knowledge preimplementation and post implementation of telenursing program. The complication of VP shunt in the study group is less than the control group with highly significance difference. Conclusion: Telenursing program positively improved mother’s knowledge in study group after implementation than before. Moreover, children of mothers who received telenursing program had less complication than control group. Recommendation: Telenusing program should be established to improve mothers' knowledge about VP shunt care.