Exploring the implementation of key nursing roles in children's cardiac services

Background: Children's cardiac nursing roles have changed over the past decade. Royal College of Nursing (RCN) guidance and NHS England standards have been published with the aim of standardising and enhancing nursing care for children and young people with congenital heart disease (CHD) and their families.

Aim: To explore the breath of implementation of key nursing roles in children's cardiac services across the UK and Ireland and to determine whether the roles met the RCN guidance and the NHS England standards.

Method: A cross-sectional survey design was used. The 150 members of the Congenital Cardiac Nurses Association (CCNA) were invited via email to participate and were sent a link to an online survey.

Findings: Of the 150 potential respondents, 31 completed the survey. Overall, respondents believed that the RCN guidance had been implemented effectively and that children's cardiac nursing roles matched the RCN's example job descriptions. Respondents' comments suggested that implementation of the NHS England standards had been challenging and that progress in setting up key roles such as lead nurse, cardiac nurse educator and children's cardiac nurse specialist had been slow. Respondents felt that political and financial factors adversely affected recruitment.

Conclusion: Since publication of the NHS England standards there has been some progress in the implementation, in children's cardiac services, of key nursing roles such as lead nurse and innovative nursing roles such as advanced nurse practitioner and research nurse. The findings of this study have informed the latest edition of the RCN guidance, which now includes the role of senior research nurse.