School nurses knowledge, attitude and ability of case management for caring children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia

49^th Annual Nursing Research and Evidence Based Practice Conference

August 20-21, 2018 Tokyo, Japan

Shu Yu

National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Adv Practice Nurs

Abstract :

The five-year survival rates of children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) reveal significantly increasing trend in recent decades. For children with cancer, as a chronic disease, maintaining a normal lifestyle and positive adjustment are very vital. School Nurses (SNs) as the role of health gatekeeper must have sufficient knowledge to understand clients�?? (children and their parents or caregiver) health care needs and then to develop a client-centered case management model. However, there is lacking studies regarding SNs�?? knowledge of caring children with ALL. The aim of this study was to examine school nurse�??s knowledge of caring children with ALL. A nationwide-based study was conducted with a randomly selected sample of 303 SNs using a structured questionnaire. Based on the findings, we found that there is an obvious room to improve SNs�?? knowledge (20.55, 4.34, total score 31; an average overall correct answer rate of 66.3%). Among five dimensions of knowledge, the highest was noted for �??treatment of ALL�?� (average mean=0.70; SD=0.22), then was in �??late effects in long-term survivors�?� (average mean=0.67; SD=0.44); and the lowest score was in �??care after treatment of ALL within two years�?� (average mean=0.62; SD=0.22). The evidence-based results found that SNs have insufficient knowledge about caring of children with ALL as well as developing a case management of ALL in school. Thus, health care organizations and school administrators should pay more attention and support to SNs join in more continuing education about caring of and developing a case management model of children with ALL. To effectively empower SNs�?? knowledge and competence then to increase quality of health care and get healthier and better life for children with ALL. Our findings are also helpful for program development, policy making, future research, practice, as well as improving the quality of care and life for children with cancer (ALL).

Biography :

Shu Yu is a Professor of School of Nursing, National Yang-Ming University in Taiwan.

E-mail: yushu@ym.edu.tw