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. 2023 Nov-Dec:73:e570-e578.
doi: 10.1016/j.pedn.2023.10.035. Epub 2023 Nov 4.

Effect of an educational program on pediatric nurses' knowledge, practice, and self-confidence about level of consciousness scales

Ahmed Loutfy  1 , Amina Elzeiny  2 , Elsayed Mahmoud Sabek  3 , Ahmed Hashem El-Monshed  4 , Mahmoud Abdel Hameed Shahin  5 , Fatma Sayed Abdelaziz Mohamed  6
Affiliations

Effect of an educational program on pediatric nurses' knowledge, practice, and self-confidence about level of consciousness scales

Ahmed Loutfy et al. J Pediatr Nurs. 2023 Nov-Dec.

Abstract

Background: Nurses of pediatric acute critical care units routinely assess the Level of Consciousness (LOC). The precise, exact, and restriction-free evaluation tool aids pediatric nurses in LOC assessment and clinical decision-making. This study aimed to examine the effect of an educational program on pediatric nurses' knowledge, practice, and self-confidence about level of consciousness scales.

Methods: This pretest-post, single-group, quasi-experimental, double-site study included 49 pediatric nurses. The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS)/Pediatric Glasgow Coma Scale (PGCS) and Pediatric Full Outline of UnResponsiveness Score Scale (PFSS) knowledge questionnaire and pediatric nurse practice checklist were developed and adopted. Self-reflection confidence statements were rated 1-5 (not confident-confident).

Results: The results of the study indicate that there were significant increases in knowledge, practice, and self-confidence after the intervention. The paired samples tests revealed that knowledge scores significantly increased from the pretest to the posttest for both GCS/PGCS (pretest mean:7.91, posttest mean:9.95) and PFSS (pretest mean:2.1, posttest mean:6.79). Practice scores also showed significant improvement for both GCS/PGCS (pretest mean: 4.12, post-test mean: 6.22) and PFSS (pretest mean: 2.46, post-test mean: 5.79). Furthermore, self-confidence significantly improved for GCS/PGCS (pretest mean:16.08, posttest mean:18.79) and PFSS (pretest mean:10.32, posttest mean:17.81). The statistical analyses supported the significance of these improvements (p < 0.001 for all except self-confidence in GCS/PGCS with p < 0.005).

Conclusion: The educational program improved pediatric nurses' GCS/PGCS and PFSS knowledge, practice, and self-confidence.

Implications to practice: Effective teaching of pediatric nurses is required to address gaps in care practices and improve the use of the Consciousness Level Assessment Scales.

Keywords: Consciousness; Glasgow coma scale / Pediatric Glasgow coma scale; Knowledge; Pediatric FOUR score scale; Pediatric nurses; Practice; Self-confidence.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.