Home practices in caring for children aged 0-6 years with fever to prevent febrile convulsions.

Abstract

The birth of primary Health care requires nurses, to critically analyze the resources used in the health care delivery service. One such resource is the home care provider - the one who gives the care to the sick member of the family at home. The study using the Orem's theoretical framework of self-care examined the home practices performed by the home care providers who looked after children with fever at home to prevent febrile convulsions. Data were collected from a sample of sixty (60) adults who had brought febrile children to Kabwata Health Centre in Lusaka. An interview schedule was the tool used to collect data from the home care providers. The findings of the study reaffirmed the women's traditional role of caring for the family sick member. The identified self-care practices used in the care of a febrile child included administration of medicines like cafenol which are bought from nearby shops and any other available left over medicines from previous prescriptions. These practices have an important implication to the nurse because they can be dangerous due to their harmful effects from over dosage, under dosage and intoxication to the febrile child. This means home care providers have to be taught, to render their practices safe. Other practical measures clients used to control fever on the febrile child were either tepid sponging or hot baths. The study highlighted the limited knowledge the clients had to engage safely on these practices. The clients had indicators for decision making and termination of self-care practices. These are equated to Orem's (19SQ) parameters for self-care practices. In conclusion the findings for the study pose a challenge to the nurse to work in collaboration with the clients, families and communities so that safe self-care practice in communities become an achievable reality; more so, when dealing with problems of a febrile child in the home.