Role of the nurses in partnering with mothers to give oral medication to their hospitalised child: Modification and development of a contextualised evidence-based practice guideline

BACKGROUND: In paediatric wards, children are often reluctant to receive medication from nurses and eventually it is given by the parents. It is a common practice for nurses to hand the medication to mothers to give to their children, However, it is an ‘informal’ practice and lacks evidence-based guidelines. OBJECTIVES: To develop a contextualised and adapted evidence-based guideline to support nurses to partner with mothers/carers so that they can safely give oral medication to their hospitalised child under the supervision of a competent nurse. METHOD: Existing relevant guidelines were identified through searches of bibliographic databases and websites. The AGREE II: Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II instrument was used to appraise the quality of the identified sources. The process of guideline adaptation recommended by the South African Guidelines Excellence project was followed, and a list of adapted recommendations was developed, aligned with the legislative and regulatory frameworks for nursing in South Africa. Accessible end user documentation was developed. RESULTS: Six sources were screened and three sources were found to be eligible and were subjected to full appraisal. Two guidelines and one policy document were identified as suitable for adaptation. Expert consultation confirmed that the resulting adapted guideline was sound, easy to understand, and well presented for the target audience. CONCLUSION: This process successfully led to the development of a modified evidence-based practice guideline to enable nurses to partner with mothers/caregivers in safely giving oral medication to their hospitalised child in lower-resourced African settings.