Abstract
Measuring the effectiveness of nursing interventions in intensive care units has been established as a priority. However, little is reported about the paediatric population. The aims of this study were (a) to map the state of the art of the science in the field of nursing-sensitive outcomes (NSOs) in paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) and (b) to identify all reported NSOs documented to date in PICUs by also describing their metrics. A scoping review was conducted by following the framework proposed by Arksey and O’Malley. Fifty-eight articles were included. Publications were mainly authored in the United States and Canada (n = 28, 48.3%), and the majority (n = 30, 51.7%) had an observational design. A total of 46 NSOs were documented. The most reported were related to the clinical (n = 83), followed by safety (n = 41) and functional (n = 18) domains. Regarding their metrics, the majority of NSOs were measured in their occurrence using quantitative single measures, and a few validated tools were used to a lesser extent. No NSOs were reported in the perceptual domain. Nursing care of critically ill children encompasses three levels: improvement in clinical performance, as measured by clinical outcomes; assurance of patient care safety, as measured by safety outcomes; and promotion of fundamental care needs, as measured by functional outcomes. Perceptual outcomes deserve to be explored.
Highlights
Studies were mainly conducted in general Paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) (n = 53, 91.4%), while the remaining studies were conducted in specialised units, such as cardiovascular or medical and surgical PICUs (n = 5, 8.6%)
Because most of the articles identified originated in the United States and Europe, caution is required when generalising from our findings to the paediatric population worldwide
Exploring nursing outcomes in paediatric settings is a field under rapid development
Summary
The number of PICU beds per 100,000 individuals ranges from 2.7 per
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have