Examining pediatric emergency home ventilation practices in home health nurses: Opportunities for improved care.
OBJECTIVES
To assess the pediatric home health nurses' knowledge in tracheostomy and ventilator emergency care on home mechanical ventilation (HMV).


BACKGROUND
Emergencies are frightening experiences for solo home health nurses and require advanced skills in emergency response and care, especially in pediatric patients who pose unique challenges.


WORKING HYPOTHESIS
Nurses with greater years of nursing experience would perform better on emergency HMV case-based scenarios than nurses with less years of experience.


STUDY DESIGN
An exploratory online survey was used to evaluate emergency case-based pediatric scenarios. Demographic and professional experiences were profiled.


PATIENT-SUBJECT SELECTION
Seventy-nine nurses had an average of 6.73 (SD = 1.41) years in pediatric nursing. Over 70% received their HMV training in their agency, 41% had less than 4 years of experience, and 30.4% had encountered at least one emergency situation at home.


METHODOLOGY
The online survey was distributed by managers of 22 home health agencies to nurses providing pediatric HMV care.


RESULTS
Nurses scored an average of 4.87 out of 10 possible points. There were no significant differences between nurses with <4 years of experience versus those with more experience on ventilator alarms knowledge or total knowledge. Ninety-seven percent of the nurses favored more training in HMV from a variety of settings (e.g., agency, on-line training).


CONCLUSIONS
Nurses did not perform well in case-based ventilator alarm scenarios. Length of nursing experience did not differentiate greater knowledge. It is clear that nurses require and want more training in emergency-based HMV. Recommendations for an enhanced curriculum are suggested.
['Kun|Sheila S|SS|', 'Beas|Virginia N|VN|', 'Keens|Thomas G|TG|', 'Ward|Sally S L|SS|', 'Gold|Jeffrey I|JI|']
D000328:Adult D002983:Clinical Competence D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing D004630:Emergencies D005260:Female D064650:Home Health Nursing D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D020380:Needs Assessment D010372:Pediatrics D012121:Respiration, Artificial D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires D055815:Young Adult
pediatric tracheostomy home mechanical ventilation