Exploring the voices of children and children’s nurses in hospital: implications for nursing practice
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Exploring the voices of children and children’s nurses in hospital: implications for nursing practice

Sonya Clarke Senior lecturer (education), School of Nursing and Midwifery, Medical Biology Centre, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Why you should read this article:
  • To recognise the importance of seeking the views of children about their experiences of healthcare

  • To enhance your understanding of children’s experiences of staying in hospital from the perspective of children and children’s nurses

  • To consider the improvements in nursing practice that could be made to enhance the care of children in hospital

Children should have a voice in relation to all aspects of healthcare as respected and credible service users, a belief endorsed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The children’s nurse is the healthcare professional who delivers care most frequently to children in hospital and their families, so is in an optimal position to offer valuable insight into children’s experiences of being in hospital. Therefore, it is important to listen to the voices of children and children’s nurses in relation to this area. This article is informed by a narrative literature review and study, undertaken by the author as part of her doctoral thesis, which explored children’s experiences of staying overnight in hospital from the perspective of children and children’s nurses. In this article, the author summarises the main findings from the study and considers the implications for children’s nursing practice based on her reflection on these findings.

Nursing Children and Young People. doi: 10.7748/ncyp.2023.e1447

Peer review

This article has been subject to open peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

@sonyaclarkeCYP

Correspondence

sonya.clarke@qub.ac.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Clarke S (2023) Exploring the voices of children and children’s nurses in hospital: implications for nursing practice. Nursing Children and Young People. doi: 10.7748/ncyp.2023.e1447

Published online: 06 March 2023

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