Predicting the nursing care needs of children in an inpatient psychiatry unit

This study examined factors that could be used in the prediction of nursing care needs of the child or adolescent requesting admission into an inpatient psychiatric unit. Using a time sampling observer methodology, nursing care activities provided to 40 child/adolescent inpatients were recorded and used as estimates of nursing care needs. Results indicated a great deal of variability in the nursing care needs of the inpatients. An encouraging finding of this study was that with relatively little difficulty, information can be obtained that is predictive of the child's or adolescent's nursing care needs. Significant predictive contributions were particularly noted for information pertaining to the sex of the child/adolescent, ratings of intellectual functioning, and history of possible abuse and/or neglect.