How are nurses partnering with families of children with long-term conditions? A review of existing literature

Background: Children and young people with long-term conditions often have frequent hospital admissions and varying health care needs. Partnership nursing is promoted as a positive model of care among paediatric nurses, where shared roles and decision-making, participation, mutual trust and respect, communication and negotiation are valued to create positive care experiences and enhance patient outcomes. Little is known about how nurses utilise partnership with both the patient and the parents in this triad to deliver partnership nursing.

Aim: To explore the experiences of partnership nursing among nurses when caring for children and young people with long-term conditions and their families.

Methods: Three systematic reviews following Joanna Briggs Institute for meta-aggregation approach were completed. Studies were assessed according to the pre-determined inclusion criteria regarding the perspective of children with long-term conditions, parents and nurses working in a paediatric healthcare settings. Qualitative findings with illustrative participant quotes were extracted from included studies and grouped into categories to inform the synthesised findings.

Findings: A total of 68 students were included in the three systematic reviews, 6 studies explored the parental experiences of partnership, 21 studies explored the child experiences of partnership and 41 studies explored nurses experiences of partnership. Children wanted to be seen as an individual in the partnership and described observing partnership between nursing staff and parents but felt uninvolved. Parents valued collaboration where both parents and nurses are recognised equally for their skills and expertise. Parents appreciated nurses who empowered them to develop new skills and knowledge in the care of their own child. Nurses demonstrated successful partnership in their practice but focused on developing nurse-parent and nurse-child partnerships instead of a singular triadic partnership for partnering together as a triad.

Conclusion: Future research needs to consider how nurses involve children and their families in healthcare, as well as how nursing staff determine how competent their patients are when focusing on shared decision-making.