Nursing care actions towards single mother of critically ill or dead children

Abstract

ABSTRACT
Introduction: At present time, prematurity is one of the main causes of neonatal and child
morbimortality and one of the main sanitary priorities. For this reason, it i necessary to approach
nursing care in order to improve the quality and safety of the care provided. The objective of
this study was to describe the nurses’ actions towards single mothers who undergo painful
circumstances in which their children are born in critical conditions or are at risk of death
at a public Maternity Provincial Hospital. To this end, Kristen Swanson’s Theory of Caring
was used, which posits five caring processes: Knowing, Being with, Doing for, Enabling, and
Maintaining Belief. Methodological design: An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional
study was carried out. The population was composed of 100 nurses and of a probability sample
of 20 professional nurses who work at neonatal intensive care units. Primary sources were used.
Technique: Observation. Instrument: Checklist. Results: The results yielded that, regarding
Knowing, 63 % of nurses displayed it, while 37 % did not. Regarding Being with, 60 % of
nurses displayed it, while 40 % did not. Regarding Doing for, 72.5 % of nurses displayed it,
while 27.5 % did not. Regarding Enabling, 30 % of nurses displayed it, while 70 % did not.
Regarding Maintaining Belief, 70 % displayed it, while 30 % did not. The results were related
to the actions performed by nurses to help single mothers of critically ill children. Conclusion:
Maintaining belief when helping these mothers to carry through the situation together with
comforting, acting skillfully and competently have reached the highest percentage of this
research.