INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Abstract
: Measuring the effectiveness of nursing interventions in intensive care units has been
established as a priority. However, little is reported about the paediatric population. The aims of
this study were (a) to map the state of the art of the science in the field of nursing-sensitive outcomes
(NSOs) in paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) and (b) to identify all reported NSOs documented
to date in PICUs by also describing their metrics. A scoping review was conducted by following the
framework proposed by Arksey and O’Malley. Fifty-eight articles were included. Publications were
mainly authored in the United States and Canada (n = 28, 48.3%), and the majority (n = 30, 51.7%)
had an observational design. A total of 46 NSOs were documented. The most reported were related
to the clinical (n = 83), followed by safety (n = 41) and functional (n = 18) domains. Regarding their
metrics, the majority of NSOs were measured in their occurrence using quantitative single
measures, and a few validated tools were used to a lesser extent. No NSOs were reported in the
perceptual domain. Nursing care of critically ill children encompasses three levels: improvement in
clinical performance, as measured by clinical outcomes; assurance of patient care safety, as
measured by safety outcomes; and promotion of fundame
