Establishing nursing-sensitive quality indicators for pediatric oncology: An international mixed methods Delphi study

Quality care for children and young people with complex and integrated care needs: A discussion on nursing-sensitive indicators

This paper highlights the need for nursing-sensitive indicators tailored to children and young people with complex and integrated care needs. While nursing plays a pivotal role in influencing care quality for this population, current measures predominantly focus on adult populations, creating gaps that hinder the evaluation of nursing contributions across diverse settings such as acute, community, and home care. We examine the importance of quality care measurement for children and young people with complex and integrated care needs and highlight deficiencies in international measurement systems. The discussion highlights the multidimensional care needs of this vulnerable population and advocates for nursing-sensitive indicators that capture broader outcomes including physical health, functional outcomes, family experience, and family well-being. Also highlighted is, the weak evidence linking process indicators to improved patient outcomes, a focus on negative outcomes, such as mortality, and the lack of theoretical foundations for nursing-sensitive indicators. There is a lack of consensus on what components to measure, definitions of indicators, and appropriate methodologies for the development of nursing sensitive indicators. Donabedian's (1988) structures, processes, and outcomes framework is discussed as well as an overview of adaptations used to improve the quality of indicator sets in a variety of settings. By situating the discussion within the context of children's and young people's nursing, this paper aims to direct future research towards the development of comprehensive indicators that capture the full contribution of nursing to the care of children and young people with complex and integrated care needs. Ultimately, this paper advocates for a standardised, holistic approach to nursing-sensitive indicators for this vulnerable population to improve care quality and overall health and wellbeing for children, young people, and their families.

Paediatric oncology short learning programmes for nurses: a scoping review

OBJECTIVE

This scoping review aimed to map the content, duration, delivery methods and modes of assessment for paediatric oncology nursing education and training programmes.

DESIGN

Scoping review.

DATA SOURCES

Published articles were retrieved from Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Dimensions, Embase, PubMed and Scopus. Additional articles were identified from the reference list of the included studies.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Articles that described or reported on a paediatric oncology nursing education and training programme, from any setting, published in English from 2012 to 2022.

DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS

Two reviewers independently screened the titles, abstracts and full texts. Data were extracted using a standardised data extraction tool. Content analysis using basic coding of data was performed. The findings are presented in figures and tables, and the results are described narratively.

RESULTS

This review included 15 articles. Content identified for paediatric oncology education and training programmes included supportive care, chemotherapy, overview of paediatric oncology, management of venous access devices, oncological emergencies, nursing considerations, infection prevention and control, paediatric cancers, patient and family education, communication, ethical legal considerations, grief and bereavement, and overview of haematological cancers. Didactic methods used included traditional face-to-face and virtual approaches to deliver theoretical and practical content. The duration of the programmes ranged from 2 hours to 6 months. Both qualitative and quantitative methods of assessment were used before, during and after the training.

CONCLUSION

This review offers valuable insights for the development of paediatric oncology education and training programmes for nurses. It provides comprehensive guidance on key content, duration, delivery methods and modes of assessment. However, there is a need to consider context-specific issues and availability of resources when developing the programmes to ensure relevance and sustainability.

STUDY REGISTRATION

Open Science Framework (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/X3Q4H).

An exploratory qualitative study on factors influencing the level of agreement in symptom reports in child-caregiver dyads

OBJECTIVES

Clinicians often rely on caregiver proxy symptom reports to treat cancer-related symptoms in children. Research has described disagreement between children's and caregivers' symptom reports. Factors influencing the level of agreement is an understudied area. Thus, this study aimed to examine potential factors contributing to the level of agreement between symptom reports provided by children and their caregivers.

METHODS

Sixteen child-caregiver dyads participated separately in semi-structured interviews after completing a brief symptom measure independently using an electronic device. Child and caregiver quantitative symptom responses were reviewed in real-time and incorporated into the semi-structured interview. Sample characteristics and the level of agreement between symptom reports were calculated using descriptive statistics. Transcribed participant interviews were analyzed using content analysis.

RESULTS

Nearly half of child-caregiver dyads exhibited a moderate (37.5%, n = 6) or low (18.75%, n = 3) level of agreement on the abbreviated symptom measure. Qualitative analysis identified 5 themes: recognizing symptoms, experiencing symptoms, communicating symptoms, re-assessing and treating symptoms, and influencing individual and relationship factors. Influencing individual, including a child's tendencies or personality traits, and relationship factors intersected the other themes, partially explained their symptom perceptions, and served to facilitate or hinder symptom communication.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

Symptom communication is an important part of the symptom cycle, comprised of symptom recognition, experience, and management. Individual and relational factors may influence discrepancies in symptom perceptions between the child and caregiver. Clinicians and researchers should consider developing interventions to enhance symptom communication and promote collaboration between children and their caregivers to address symptom suffering during cancer treatment.

The interventional care for patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement: Establishing indicators for optimal interventional care

OBJECTIVE

We evaluate the quality of interventional care for patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) using a set of quality indicators.

METHODS

We developed an initial list of quality indicators by incorporating current guidelines, observing practice discrepancies, and basing it on the Donabedian "structure, process, and outcome" three-dimensional quality evaluation model as the framework. The Delphi method was utilized in two rounds of consultation involving 31 experts to evaluate and revise indicators at all levels.

RESULTS

The response rate of expert questionnaires was 100% for both rounds, and the expert authority coefficients were 0.913 and 0.940, respectively. The Kendall harmony coefficients were 0.221 and 0.195, respectively, with P < 0.05. Eventually, a quality evaluation system of interventional care for patients undergoing TAVR was constructed, consisting of three structural indicators, nine process indicators, and 42 outcome indicators.

CONCLUSIONS

The quality evaluation system for interventional care of TAVR sought to establish specific, objective, and quantifiable criteria for assessing the quality of care. It is recommended to apply the set of quality indicators across hospitals to enhance the quality of care for TAVR.

Construction and evaluation of nursing-sensitive quality indicators for vaginal birth after cesarean: A Delphi study based on Chinese population

Aim

To develop scientific, systematic and clinically applicable nursing-sensitive quality indicators for vaginal birth after cesarean in obstetrics, which provide a theoretical and clinical basis for monitoring and improving the nursing quality of vaginal birth after cesarean in China.

Methods

A modified Delphi-consensus technique was used in this study. Based on literature retrieval published between January 2012 and December 2022 and group discussion, the preliminary nursing-sensitive quality indicators were selected using a structural-process-outcome model. Then a questionnaire was designed on the preliminary indicators. The modified Delphi method was used to conduct two rounds of expert consultation among 26 hospitals in China. The survey data of experts' opinions were collected and analyzed to determine the final nursing-sensitive quality indicators. The importance of indicators, rationality of calculation formula and operability of data collection were analyzed and discussed.

Results

A total of 33 nursing-sensitive quality indicators were determined. The indicators were composed of 3-level ones, including 3 first-level indicators (structural, process and outcome indicators), 9 s-level ones and 33 third-level ones. The positive coefficients in the two rounds of expert consultation were 95.56 % and 97.67 %, respectively, and the authoritative coefficients were 0.88 and 0.94. The coefficients of variation ranged from 0.05 to 0.28.

Conclusion

The nursing-sensitive quality indicators were successfully developed using the modified Delphi method. The indicators are scientific, systematic and clinically operable, and play an important role in improving the nursing quality for pregnant women with vaginal birth after cesarean.