The voice of paediatric oncology nurses: A longitudinal diary study of professional development.

PURPOSE: There is a limited amount of studies with results on professional development of paediatric oncology nurses. This study seeks to increase the understanding of the factors associated with the professional development of paediatric oncology nurses through the continuous education programme from the paediatric nurses' perspective. METHOD: The descriptive, qualitative study used the text of participants' electronic diaries as data during a two-year continuing professional education programme in 2016-2018. The sample consisted of 17 paediatric oncology nurses who were working in three different university hospitals. The data were analysed with the inductive content analysis method. RESULTS: Professional development is linked with a strong knowledge base in nursing, which involves the use of nursing methods and up-to-date nursing practices. Professional development is also linked with the use of medical knowledge, which manifests as a deep understanding of cancers and their treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Research results show that a strong knowledge base in nursing alone is not sufficient for the professional development of paediatric oncology nurses. They also need to use their medical knowledge in order to gain an adequately deep understanding of children's cancers and their treatment. Nursing must be organised so that nurses have the opportunity to compare, share, question and argue for the methods they use with their colleagues in their own unit and other hospitals. Further research is needed on the professional development of paediatric oncology nurses and factors affecting it in order for a career development model to be created for this specific yet demanding area of nursing.

Families in Paediatric Oncology Nursing: Critical Incidents From the Nurses' Perspective.

PURPOSE: Paediatric oncology nurses encounter challenges with families on a daily basis. This study explores how nurses describe significant incidents when encountering families and family members during the child's hospitalisation in the paediatric oncology unit. DESIGN AND METHODS: A qualitative study with a phenomenological approach in which 17 paediatric oncology nurses from three different hospitals described critical incidents related to families. The participants' written descriptions were analysed using inductive content analysis. RESULTS: The results indicate three domains where critical incidents occur: 1) Families' capability and resources, 2) parents' behaviour and 3) emotional labour in paediatric oncology nursing. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that paediatric oncology nurses face situations with patients' parents that can cause them stress and uncertainty, as well as burden them emotionally. Some of the incidents dealt with difficult ethical questions. Because of the challenges that families are facing, as described in the study, nurses need to focus more on helping families identify their resources and empower themselves in order to adapt to a new situation in their lives. IMPLICATIONS: The results provide important information not only for paediatric nursing but also for education and management. Since the quality of family nursing does not only depend on the competence of nurses or available resources, support from management concerning the work with families of severely sick children would be beneficial to the nurses. In addition, educational interventions need to be developed in order to strengthen the capability of nurses to successfully respond to challenging situations with families.