Pediatric Nurses’ Awareness Regarding Protective Child Advocacy and Rights in the Hospital

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Lecturer of Pediatric Nursing – Minia University – Egypt

2 Lecturer of Nursing Administration, Faculty of Nursing, Minia University–Egypt

3 Lecturer of Pediatric Nursing – Minia University – Egyp

Abstract

Advocacy is explained in concrete acts such as helping the patient access needed healthcare facilities, assuring the quality of treatment, defending the patient's interests, and acting as a coordinator for the patient and the health care environments. Aim: Assess pediatric nurses’ awareness regarding protective child advocacy and rights in the hospital. Method: A descriptive exploratory research design was utilized, and a convenient sample of 103 nurses at the in-patient pediatric ward, neonatal intensive care unit, and pediatric intensive care unit at Minia university hospital for obstetric and pediatric hospital, Minia health insurance hospital, and Misr-El-Hora general hospital affiliated to the Ministry of Health hospital. One tool was used, which included two parts, part Ⅰ: Demographic data for nurses. Part Ⅱ: Nurses’ awareness about the protective child advocacy scale and child rights Results: Most of the studied nurses had good awareness of child advocacy and rights, and the minority had fair awareness. All the studied nurses aged between 30- < 35 years and 40- 45 years had good awareness about child advocacy, and all the studied nurses who had bachelor's degrees had a good level of awareness about child advocacy and rights. Conclusion: Increasing the nurses' age and their educational level provides an opportunity for them to advocate for children and maintain their rights. Recommendation: Conducting training courses for nurses about child advocacy and their rights is the Ministry of Health's responsibility in the hospital.

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