Paper
Sunday, November 4, 2007

158
This presentation is part of : Palliative Care Issues
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Nurses' Comfort Level in Caring for Dying Babies
Susan K. Rogers, MS, BSN, RN, CHPN1, Carlos F. Gomez, PhD, MD1, and Amani Babgi, PhD2. (1) Institute for Education and Leadership, Capital Hospice, Falls Church, VA, USA, (2) College of Health and Human Services, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
Learning Objective #1: recognize the impact of education in changing neonatal intensive care unit nurses' comfort level in caring for dying babies.
Learning Objective #2: identify which topics needed more attention and different planning when conducting education regarding pediatric end-of-life care issues.
        Nurses are the frontline caregivers for dying patients and their families were they become their line of trust. With their daily practice, nurses are faced with moral distress and frustration with several issues that affect the care they provide to dying infants and neonates. Their moral distress and frustrations comes from issues such as ethical/ legal decision making regarding their patients care, and from their preparedness physically and emotionally for such role. This study was conducted to examine the impact of a pediatric end-of-life care educational program in changing the NICU nurses comfort level in caring for dying babies. 

      A pre-experimental design involving pretest and posttest was used to utilize this research. The sample included a convenient sample of NICU nurses caring for dying babies who participated in the pediatric end-of-life care educational program were n = 87 NICU nurses. The educational program included six sessions, each of these sessions was given once for an hour length for six months.

     The researchers developed an instrument to measure the comfort level of NICU nurses in caring for dying babies. The instrument consists of 15-item statements, with score range between 15-75, with higher scores indicating NICU nurses have higher comfort level in dealing with dying babies. Content validity and reliability was conducted for the instrument.

       Pretest and posttest scores results were compared using paired t-test. The results showed that NICU nurses significantly improved their comfort level in caring for dying babies after receiving pediatric end-of-life educational component  were t (81) = 4.2, P < 0.001, and effect size d = 0.333), which was considered educationally significant. Other findings were also found and discussed.

      Nurses in general, and NICU nurse more specifically comfort level in caring for dying babies can be improved when provided with valued education that answers and meets their needs.

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See more of The 39th Biennial Convention (November 3 -- 7, 2007)