Background: Intravascular catheters are safe devices routinely used in critically ill children for administration of inotropes, high dose drugs, blood products. Vascular access devices can cause complications which lead to long hospital stay, morbidity, and high mortality. The catheter- related complications can largely be preventable through efficient nurses' level of knowledge and practice. This study aimed to: assess nurses' knowledge and practice regarding care of children undergoing vascular access and its related complications. Design: Descriptive study design was utilized to carry out the study. Settings: Pediatric Intensive Care Units (PICU) at Benha University Hospital and Specialized Pediatric Hospital at Benha city. Sampling: convenient sample of 77 nurses who are working at the previously mentioned settings and a purposive sample of (77) pediatric patients. Tools of data collection: Three tools were used: Tool (I): A structured interviewing questionnaire format to assess personal characteristic of nurses’ and their knowledge regarding VAD tool (II): Observational checklists to assess nurses' practice before, during and after venous access procedures and care of its complications. Tool (III): The child medical assessment sheet. The results of this study revealed that: The majority of the studied nurses had satisfactory knowledge and competent practices towards caring for children undergoing vascular access devices respectively. It was concluded that: there were a positive statistical correlation between total level of nurses’ knowledge and practice towards caring for children undergoing VAD So it recommended that: pediatric nurses should update their knowledge and practice through continuing training, educational programs and workshops concern the care of children with vascular access devices and its related complications. |
