Paediatric nursing clinical competences in primary healthcare: A systematic review

AIMS: To identify and critically appraise the available evidence on paediatric nurses' clinical competencies performed autonomously regarding disease prevention and health promotion activities for children and adolescents in primary healthcare worldwide. DESIGN: A systematic review design in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement. DATA SOURCES: The search was conducted through MEDLINE (PubMed), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, SCOPUS, The Cochrane Library, Scientific Electronic Library Online, Web of Science and The Joanna Briggs Institute EBP (Ovid) databases. The grey literature was reviewed at OpenGrey. Additional studies were located through a references list of selected studies identified on first search. REVIEW METHODS: Database search employed MeSH terms: (paediatric nursing) AND (primary healthcare) AND ((clinical skills) OR (clinical competences)). Studies published from inception to October 2019 exploring paediatric nurses' clinical competencies in primary healthcare were eligible for inclusion. No language restrictions were applied in the main search. Selection was made by two reviewers independently. Three independent reviewers assessed the methodological quality of included studies. RESULTS: Eighteen studies were included from six countries. The most common nursing competencies independently performed identified and described in studies were Health education and advice, Child and adolescent health and development assessment, Immunizations and Child health checks. CONCLUSION: Studies describe clinical competencies of nurses in children care. No consistent scientific evidence is available about clinical competencies of paediatric nurses performed autonomously in primary care. IMPACT: Few scientific studies identifying and assessing nurses' child primary healthcare skills were found and therefore recorded. Studies describe nurses' clinical skills in childhood, but results do not show firm consistency assessing their practice scope. Health policy-makers should encourage the development of nurses' competencies if they wish to preserve quality and equity of healthcare services to children. Therefore, the first step is to identify the autonomous competencies of paediatric nurses in primary care.