Factors Improving Oncology Nurse Role Performance in Providing Pediatric Palliative Care: A SWOT Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Palliative care is provided by an interdisciplinary team in which, nurses play an important role, and improving their role performance can be effective in providing high-quality care. This study aimed to explore the factors related to improving oncology nurses' role performance in providing pediatric palliative care. METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with 22 nurses, physicians, hospital supervisors, children, and their parents from September 2022 to January 2023. Data analysis was performed based on conventional content analysis proposed by Elo and Kyngas using MAXQDA 2020. Finally, subcategories of each main category were summarized in the SWOT analysis matrix. RESULT: Data analysis led to the extraction of 1250 codes, three main categories (nurse-related factors, child and family-related factors, and organizational factors), five generic categories, and 32 subcategories that were ultimately classified in the SWOT analysis matrix. CONCLUSION: This study showed that oncology nurses' role performance in providing palliative care is influenced by many internal and external factors. In this regard, in order to improve their role performance, increasing knowledge among nurses, nursing students, and the community on integrating pediatric palliative care topics into the nursing curriculum, fair access to palliative care services, drug accessibility, financial support, and further research are recommended.

Effectiveness of acupressure on anxiety of children undergoing anesthesia.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tonsillectomy is one of the most commonly used pediatric surgeries with high stress levels for children and their parents. The present study was designed and implemented regarding the fact that limited studies have ever been carried out about the effects of complementary therapies such as acupressure on the preoperative anxiety levels in children throughout the world. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Present study was a randomized clinical trial that was done in three groups with 144 children aged 5-12 years undergoing tonsillectomy. In present study, the children were allocated in three groups: intervention, control and sham. In the intervention group, the acupressure was applied on the Yintang point and in the sham group, was applied at a sham acupoint. No intervention was performed in the control group. Before and after intervention, the pediatric anxiety levels were measured using instruments. The results were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as the Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon tests, chi-square (χ2) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. The significance level was considered p < 0.05. RESULTS: The total anxiety score in children was (70.39 ± 20.93) in the control group, (67.83 ± 16.78) in the intervention group and (71.40 ± 21.82) in the sham group, not significant difference (p > 0.05). The different in the overall anxiety score among children before intervention compare to after intervention was as following: Control group (-3 ± 17.46), intervention group (8.42 ± 32.98) and sham group (-4.32 ± 24.47). CONCLUSION: Like other surgical procedures, the tonsillectomy has serious stress for children. Our study demonstrates that the acupressure has a significant effect on the level of preoperative anxiety in children undergoing surgery. Therefore, nurses can use this technique to reduce the pediatric anxiety.