Journal of Pediatric Nursing

Competency is the foundation for safe and quality patient care; therefore, assessment must include evaluation based on defined criteria beyond just following a checklist or grading a posttest. The challenge for nurse educators is devising strategies for the staff to demonstrate skills and critical thinking while accommodating various work schedules and time restrictions. This article will describe an innovative themed program that incorporates communication, teamwork, and fun into competency assessment. This technique allows for the tailoring of validation to the needs of the individual and the team.

Unlabelled: A review of patient and family satisfaction measures on one pediatric acute care inpatient unit of 27 beds rated the nurses' promptness in responding to patient call bells in the 40%-50% excellence range. As a process improvement initiative, a wireless telephone system was implemented on the unit for enhancing communications between caregivers. Interventions: During this 6-week trial, each registered nurse (RN) and patient care technician (PCT) was assigned a wireless telephone at the beginning of their shift, thus becoming their communication vehicle for 12 hours. As patient requests came to the nurses' station via the current nurse call system, the health unit coordinator was instructed to call either the RN or PCT on his or her wireless telephone, depending on the patient request. Outcomes: After the 6-week trial, data revealed an increase of 10% to 60% excellence. Both patient and families revealed a faster response time to their need with the implementation of the wireless telephone system pilot.

The purpose of this study was to examine the anxiety responses of 5- to 11-year-old children (N = 52) during and after hospitalization from their perspective. Change in anxiety over time was examined, as was the relationship between children's anxiety and age, sex, length of hospitalization, previous admission, and parental anxiety. Children demonstrated a decrease in anxiety from admission to discharge, whereas anxiety remained fairly constant from discharge to posthospitalization. Younger children (5 to 7 years), boys, and children not previously admitted were more anxious and did not show a decrease in anxiety over time. Findings of this study have implications for practice and further research.

The purpose of this study was to examine the anxiety responses of parents (N = 52) of 5- to 11-year-old children during and after the hospitalization of their child. The study assessed the level of parental anxiety and its change over time and it examined the relationship between parental anxiety and their children's anxiety, age, gender, length of hospitalization, and previous admission. The study also examined the feelings reported by the parents. Parents showed a decrease in anxiety from admission to discharge whereas anxiety remained fairly constant from discharge to posthospitalization. There was a positive relationship between parental anxiety and the length of the child's hospitalization. There were both positive and negative relationships between the various measures of parental and child anxiety. No relationship was found between parental anxiety and the children's age, gender, and previous admission. Findings of this study have implications for practice and further research.

Parental stress related to having a neonate in a Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) has been well documented in the nursing literature. Yet, as nurses we need to be reminded of strategies that can combat this stress and ease the transition to home.

The aim of this study was to describe the present and past experiences of 14 siblings from five families in terms of having a brother or sister with autism and mental retardation. Personal interviews were conducted with the siblings before their brothers or sisters were moved to a newly opened group home. Qualitative content analysis was used for the analysis of the transcribed texts. The analysis resulted in seven content categories: precocious responsibility, feeling sorry, exposed to frightening behavior, empathetic feelings, hoping that a group home will be a relief, physical violence made siblings feel unsafe and anxious, and relations with friends were affected negatively. The conclusion is that these siblings' experiences revealed stressful life conditions. Counseling for the family and for siblings is recommended to help them deal with their feelings and problems. For the siblings in these five families, a group home was a relevant alternative as a temporary or permanent placement for the child with autism and mental retardation.

Gardasil is the first vaccine developed to prevent cervical cancer and other diseases caused by certain types of genital human papillomavirus in females, but little is known about parental acceptance of this vaccine. The purpose of this study was to test a model that predicts intention to vaccinate that includes constructs from the health belief model and the theory of reasoned action.

Nursing has a strong historical precedence in the treatment of health disparities. This article evaluates the public health nurses' (PHNs') role with infant mortality during 1884-1920, specifically how nursing care impacted on conditions of poverty, poor nutrition, poor living conditions, lack of education, and lack of governmental policies that contributed to the poor health of infants a century ago. The historical significance of the early PHNs' role can improve our understanding of nursing practice with childhood health issues today. Suggestions are made for nursing to focus on health disparities in childhood obesity, in areas of environmental and policy changes, and the development of social programs and education for families to support healthier living.

Drawing on a wealth of primary documents, this historical research describes nurses' efforts regarding early 20th century pediatric tuberculosis care in Virginia. Virginia nurses played a leadership role in designing a template for children's care. Ultimately, however, their legacy is a mixed one. They helped forge a system funded by a complicated, poorly coordinated, race- and class-based mix of public and private support that is now delivered through an idiosyncratic web of community, state, and federal programs. However, they also took courageous action, and their efforts improved the lives of many children. By so doing, they helped invent pediatric nursing.

The establishment of children's hospitals became one of the most important legacies of the child-saving movement in the early 20th century. As children's hospitals became more focused on acute and curable illnesses, facilities were developed to provide care and support for "crippled" or "incurable" children. The Queen Alexandra Solarium provided long-term care for crippled children in Western Canada and was developed to augment the acute care services of the British Columbia Children's Hospital. The staff of the solarium provided "healing by nature's method"-rest, fresh air and sunshine, nutritious food, and gentle nursing care-in the calming beachside location of Saanich Inlet on Vancouver Island. Examination of available hospital documentation from the years 1927 through 1942 shows that nurses played a key, yet silent role, in the extended care of chronically ill children.

The purpose of this study was to review and analyze the use of projective techniques in published nursing studies in which children were the subjects. A search of the pediatric nursing research literature revealed 27 studies that were published between 1984 and 1993 in which projective techniques were used to investigate children's responses. The research purposes, characteristics of subjects, projective techniques employed and their validity and reliability, data analysis strategies, and major findings of the studies reviewed are analyzed and summarized. Recommendations for the use of projective techniques in research and clinical practice with children are offered.