Pediatric Nurses' Knowledge and Attitudes toward Childhood Fever

Chung, Young Sun; Kim, Jin Sun

Abstract

PURPOSE: Fever is a common problem in children. Misconceptions about fever are exacerbated by variations in knowledge and practice of pediatric nurses. The purposes of this study were to identify the knowledge and attitude toward fever and its management and to identify the relationship between knowledge and attitude.
METHODS
A descriptive correlation study was conducted with 114 pediatric nurses in G city. Self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test or ANOVA and Pearson correlation analysis.
RESULTS
The mean percent of correct responses for physiology of fever, fever management and antipyretics was 51.3%. Knowledge of antipyretics was lower than knowledge of other items with 29.2% correct. Both positive and negative attitudes were discovered. Pediatric nurses' in this study reported negative attitudes toward beneficial effects of fever and positive attitudes toward use of antipyretics to prevent febrile convulsions and reduction of temperatures as low as 38.3degrees C. There was no statistically significant correlation between knowledge and attitude related to fever management.
CONCLUSION
The findings suggest that improvements are needed in management practices of pediatric nurses. Educational interventions to increase knowledge of fever management by pediatric nurses and to strengthen positive attitudes about childhood fever are recommended.