Evidence based guidelines provide a plan of action to guide health professionals in making decisions about treatment and care, supporting them to achieve better outcomes. We are striving to produce a suite of region and context specific evidence-based children’s nursing practice guidelines, which will be an entirely new resource in Africa.

As part of their second-year studies, students on the Master of Nursing in Child Nursing programme are facilitated to each lead the initial stage of development for a particular topic guideline in partial fulfilment of their degree. An accessible summary of the guideline is produced as a poster and published online using an academically and professionally credible platform (OpenUCT). Since 2021 the Master students have been given the opportunity to get their gudielines ready for publication. The potential for students/graduates to contribute to co-authoring a peer reviewed publication is an important part of their professional development and makes a positive contribution to advancing nurse-led clinical governance and leadership in Africa’s child health services. 

These guidelines are a much-needed resource in Africa and we are excited about their potential to contribute to improved nursing practices and child health outcomes.

The guidelines are all available on ZivaHub, where they are listed under year of publication. Click on name below to go directly to actual guideline: 

• Ethics and professionalism on social media use by healthcare professionals
• High flow oxygen therapy in general paediatric wards
• Therapeutic hypothermia protocol for a limited resource setting
• Gastroschisis management in a low resource setting
• The nurse's role in the care of a neonate on CPAP in NICU in a low resource setting
• The registered nurse's role in the prevention of errors in the preparation and administration of IV medication to infants and children
• Medication administration via gastrostomy in children - the nurses' practice
• Nursing management of port catheters in a paediatric oncology unit
• The nurse's role in partnering with mothers to give oral medication to their hospitalised child
• The nurse’s role in partnering with mothers to keep fluid balance records for a hospitalized child
• The Nurse’s Role in Promoting Non-pharmacological Sleep in a Children’s Ward
• Flowchart for the nurse’s management of the peripheral intravenous catheter for prevention of associated injuries in hospitalised children
• Flowchart for preventing pressure injuries for ventilated children in PICU

Disclaimer re use: These guidelines are recommended for use for five years from the date of the student’s course completion. Beyond the five-year period, the CNDU advises that the guideline be updated by prospective users before implementation in clinical settings. Where possible, revisions should be made in consultation with the author. Changes should be accompanied by a note in the footer that reads: “Revised [date] by [name/s]: [brief summary of change made – e.g., oxygen flow rates revised to reflect WHO recommendation].”