The praxis of clinical knowledge : learning to care for paediatric patients with a congenital heart anomaly

In Saudi Arabia, the major tertiary care unit for the treatment of cardiovascular disease is the King Faisal Heart Institute (KFHI). Its state of the art technology and patient profile facilitates nurses to become highly knowledgeable in the diversityof treatment modalities and nursing care of a range of paediatric pathology. Like many global nursing organizations, the KFHI is experiencing nursing shortages and nurses coming to work in this highly specialized area are lacking some of the basic understanding and skills development necessary to work efficiently and effectively in the area. This paper describes the work of the cardiovascular education team in developing a praxis-based curriculum that equips nurses to not only function at a high level in the cardiovascular area but also facilitate success in their future careers when they leave Saudi Arabia.