Aspects of assessment and necessary skills of nurses who professionally coordinate the home life care of children with disabilities

Abstract

Objective: To identify the aspects of assessment and examine the necessary skills of nurses who provided professional support and coordinated the home life care of children with disabilities, making the children’s lives easier and safer. Method: Six nurses who coordinate pediatric home-based care were interviewed for approximately 1 h, and data were qualitatively and descriptively analyzed. Result: The following four categories of assessment content and methods were identified: determine the present and future support needed by the children, take a bird’ s-eye view of the entire family situation with the parent at the center and find the support needed for daily life, identify the strengths and weaknesses of other professionals and consider ways for collaboration, and explore the possibility of administrative support and consider measures to continue support. Moreover, three categories of foundational attitudes and ideas have been identified. Consideration: The results showed that nurses had excellent situational judgment and intervention decision-making skills to persistently pursue creative interventions; the foundation of their skills was ideas such as beliefs and standards of behavior, information gathering, and relationship-building skills.