Day 1 : Oral Presentations (Theme: Education for Service)

Pediatric oncology nursing education initiatives at Children Cancer Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan; local problem –local solution

Location

Lecture Hall 3

Start Date

26-1-2013 10:50 AM

Abstract

Background: Pediatric oncology is a newer specialty in Pakistan with limited number of centers and expertise. At Children Cancer Hospital we were facing great difficulty in getting nurses who could take care of children. It was nearly impossible to get nurses with experience in Pediatric oncology. We decided to initiate training courses for technicians and nurses at Children Cancer Hospital in 2009 with the help of My Child Matter Grant from UICC.

Methods: One year Pediatric Oncology Nurse Technician course with certification from Sindh Technical Board was initiated in 2009.We started with one nurse educator with extensive pediatric oncology experience later we added one more. Curriculum was developed with the help of colleagues from medical education. The candidates with minimum qualification of inter science with biology were selected from all over Sindh. For registered nurses we initially conducted six week comprehensive course on Pediatric oncology, it was later changed to 2 weeks because of study leave issue. The nursing education department is also conducting other courses and seminars on infection control, critical care etc.

Results: We have so far run three pediatric oncology nurse technician and six pediatric oncology nursing courses. We have produced 27 pediatric oncology nurse technicians, and enabled 64 nurses from all over country to enhance their oncology nursing skills. Most of them are working in different centers and have adopted oncology nursing as their profession doing further studies in this specialty. Over the years we have established infrastructure of nursing education department establishing a classroom, seminar room, and library and skill lab.

Conclusions: We have been able to find local solution of local problem by creating a nursing education department at Children Cancer Hospital. We have inculcated the culture of further education and training among our nurses.

Key words: Pediatric Oncology, nursing, education

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Jan 26th, 10:50 AM Jan 26th, 11:10 AM

Pediatric oncology nursing education initiatives at Children Cancer Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan; local problem –local solution

Lecture Hall 3

Background: Pediatric oncology is a newer specialty in Pakistan with limited number of centers and expertise. At Children Cancer Hospital we were facing great difficulty in getting nurses who could take care of children. It was nearly impossible to get nurses with experience in Pediatric oncology. We decided to initiate training courses for technicians and nurses at Children Cancer Hospital in 2009 with the help of My Child Matter Grant from UICC.

Methods: One year Pediatric Oncology Nurse Technician course with certification from Sindh Technical Board was initiated in 2009.We started with one nurse educator with extensive pediatric oncology experience later we added one more. Curriculum was developed with the help of colleagues from medical education. The candidates with minimum qualification of inter science with biology were selected from all over Sindh. For registered nurses we initially conducted six week comprehensive course on Pediatric oncology, it was later changed to 2 weeks because of study leave issue. The nursing education department is also conducting other courses and seminars on infection control, critical care etc.

Results: We have so far run three pediatric oncology nurse technician and six pediatric oncology nursing courses. We have produced 27 pediatric oncology nurse technicians, and enabled 64 nurses from all over country to enhance their oncology nursing skills. Most of them are working in different centers and have adopted oncology nursing as their profession doing further studies in this specialty. Over the years we have established infrastructure of nursing education department establishing a classroom, seminar room, and library and skill lab.

Conclusions: We have been able to find local solution of local problem by creating a nursing education department at Children Cancer Hospital. We have inculcated the culture of further education and training among our nurses.

Key words: Pediatric Oncology, nursing, education