Guidelines Program for Improving Nursing Care of Children Suffering from Hemophilia: An Intervention Study

Abstract

Hemophilia is a genetic disorder associated with a chronic burden of morbidity and early mortality, it is a coagulation disorder arising from a genetic defect of the X-chromosome. In each type of hemophilia, a critical coagulation protein is missing, causing children to bleed for long periods of time before clotting occurs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of guidelines program on improving nursing care of children suffering from hemophilia. Study design: A quasi experimental design was used. settings: The study was carried out at Hematological Department and Hematological Outpatient Clinic in Children Hospital affiliated to Ain Shams University Hospitals. Subjects: A purposive sample involving 55 nurses, employed in the previously mentioned settings were recruited for the study. Tools: the tools of data collection included a structured questionnaire, nine observational checklists and guidelines program about care of children suffering from hemophilia. Results: the mean age of studied nurses was 28.5 ± 4.2 years and less than half of them held bachelor, had less than 10 years of experience and attained previous program about hemophilia. More than two thirds of studied nurses had unsatisfactory total knowledge regarding care of children with hemophilia pre-implementation of guidelines program compared with the great majority of them had satisfactory total knowledge post implementation. As well, nurses’ performance was improved post implementation of guidelines program. Conclusion: It can be concluded that, the guidelines program led to significant improvement in studied nurses’ performance towards care of children suffering from hemophilia. Recommendations: Periodic refreshing training should be provided for all nurses working in hematological departments concerning hemophilia and its nursing management. A manual guided booklet about hemophilia should be available to all nurses working in hematological departments and outpatient clinic.