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A Program to Prevent Iron Poisoning Using Public Health Nurses in a County Health Department
Author(s) -
Broderick Molly,
DoddButera Teresa,
Wahl Patricia
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
public health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.471
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1525-1446
pISSN - 0737-1209
DOI - 10.1046/j.0737-1209.2002.19305.x
Subject(s) - public health , medicine , educational program , occupational safety and health , poison control , injury prevention , suicide prevention , environmental health , trainer , health education , family medicine , medical emergency , nursing , pathology , political science , computer science , law , programming language
Despite 50 years of educational and legislative efforts aimed at increasing public awareness of the toxicity of iron, it remains a leading cause of poisoning death in children. The purpose of this study was to educate public health nurses (PHNs) on the prevention of iron poisoning utilizing, a “Train the Trainer” design. Educational programs were based on cognitive and behavioral approaches and consisted of a pretest, lecture, posttest, and evaluation. In addition, a follow‐up survey was conducted at 8‐months posttraining in order to determine the application of iron poison‐prevention principles. Prior to the program, 71% of the PHNs were unable to identify iron as a leading household poison. Sixty percent reported storage habits of medication that predispose children to poisoning. The overall score on the pretest was 56% compared with the mean posttest score of 96%. Of the 45 respondents to the follow‐up survey, 87% had used the program information to educate patients on the dangers of iron poisoning. This iron poison prevention program provided a successful educational program for PHNs that was then applied to patient education.