Abstract

   Fever is one of the most common presenting signs of illness in office based primary care pediatric practice, accounting for 19% to 30% of visits. Feverish illness is also the second most common reason for a child being admitted to hospital. The aim of this study: is to assess nurses' knowledge and attitude toward fever management. Descriptive research design was utilized to meet the aim of this study. Materials and method: This study was conducted in three units (Gastroenterology Unit, Intermediate Care Unit and Intensive Care Unit) at Assuit Children University Hospital. The subjects of this study consist of 73 nurses who were working in the previous  units. Two tools was used to collect the required data for this study, tool one: Structured questionnaire sheet for assessment of nurses' knowledge regarding fever and fever management, tool two: Fever management attitude instrument (FMA) for assessment of nurses' attitude related to fever and fever management. Results: The main results of study demonstrated that the majority of studied nurses (78.1%) had unsatisfactory knowledge about fever and fever management. Statistically significant differences was illustrated between nurses place of work and their total percent score of knowledge (p-value =0.021). It was shown that nurses who worked at intensive care unit have satisfactory of total score of knowledge compared with the nurses who worked at intermediate care unit (34.5% and 23.1% respectively).  It was noticed that antipyretic use without the doctor order was reported by 43.8% of nurses. 46.5% of nurses incorrectly believed that antipyretics were minimally effective in preventing recurrences. While most nurses (83.6%) disagreed that febrile convulsions do not cause neurological damage. Conclusion: Fever phobia remains extremely widespread among staff nurses, the vast majority attitudes that fever is harmful; some of identified behavior (use of antipyretics without the doctor order) exposes children to the risk of overdose.  All nurses conducted in this study have positive attitude toward fever and fever management. Recommendations: Integration of evidence-based practice guidelines regarding fever assessment and management to help nurses to develop their own decision making and care management skills. Carrying out health education programs for all nurses and parents to provide a general reduction in fever phobia and promote safer drug use.