Knowledge, attitudes and practice among nurses toward oxygen administration to the critically ill patients at UTHK

Abstract

Objective: To assess knowledge, attitudes and practice of nurses toward oxygen administration to the critically ill patients at University Teaching Hospital of Kigali Methods: The study was carried out at University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (UTHK known as CHUK) in ICU and Emergency units. UTHK is Rwandan Referral Hospital located in Kigali City, Nyarugenge District. The target population was professional nurses working at the Emergency and ICU units at UTHK. The researcher used questionnaire which is adapted from previous similar study. The questionnaire was developed from research conducted at Addisababa by LEMMA (2015).A questionnaire was distributed to consenting nurses for completion. Dependent variables were knowledge attitude and practice. Independent variables were Sex, age, level of education, marital status and working experience. The data was analyzed using SPSS 20. Level of knowledge was grouped according to Bloom‘s original cut-off points into good (80 100%), moderate (60-79%) and poor (< 60%). A quantitative descriptive method was chosen because it was enabled the researcher to collect numerical data and perform quantitative analysis. Aims: This study aims to identify the knowledge, attitude, practical skills and related gap among nurses on oxygen therapy at Emergency and ICU units at UTHK. Results: Out of the 65 Nurses who responded, 73.8 % had a level of knowledge classifiable as poor, 21.1% moderate and 3.1% good. The mean score of level of knowledge, participants in this study was 87.7%. Standard deviation was19.3 and there is significant relation between the education level and nursing practices during administration of oxygen (p value= 0.033). The participants showed lower levels of knowledge in different subject matters. Only 26.2 % give the right answer about oxygen indications, 50.8 % gave the correct answer about normal range of oxygen saturation and 27.7 % responded correctly questions related to the physiology of respiratory system. .The attitudes of participants in the various subject areas raised were moderate on 63.1%, and practice also was moderate on 46.2%. Conclusion: The participants had poor level of knowledge of oxygen administration. However their attitude and practice was generally moderate. Their knowledge could be boosted with regular continuous nursing education on oxygen administration.