Nursing care of patients 24 hours Post ICU Discharge: Knowledge and Attitude among general ward Nurses in tertiary Hospitals, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract

Background: Delay in recognition of patient’s deterioration, incompetency on sepsis recognition and management were the common problem resulted on provision of suboptimal nursing care to patient post ICU. It was observed that there are number of death and re -admission of post ICU patients. In Tanzania, studies revealed, nurses were ineffective on providing appropriate nursing care due to limited technological skills and knowledge for making decision when managing patient in general ward. Currently no published study has been identified in Tanzania regarding nurses’ knowledge and attitude in caring patients 24 hours post ICU discharge. Aim: To assess nursing care of patients 24 hours post ICU; Knowledge and Attitude among general ward nurses in Tertiary hospitals, Dar es salaam, Tanzania. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study employed to 169 respondents selected by multistage random sampling from three tertiary Hospitals. A self-administered questionnaire was used. Data were analysed by SPSS version 23.0 and p-Value was used as a cut-off point on assessing relation between variables in the study. Result: Majority 57.4% of participants were 20 - 34 years old, more than half were female 62.7%, with diploma in nursing 62.7%, work in medical wards 68.6% and 50.6% with 2 - 5 years working experience. The mean score of nurses’ knowledge was 3.882 (STD dev. =1.834). Regarding knowledge 85.8% were unable to identify exact number of vital sign used to measure physiological status. But 84.6% understood the change in level of consciousness and vital signs. Regarding attitude, the mean score was 3.298(STD dev. =0.6085). Working area was statistically significant with level of knowledge regarding care of post ICU patient (X2 = 13.510; df=3; p=0.004). Working area, experience, participant who had diploma or degree show a statistical significant with attitude toward caring patients after discharge from ICU (p<0.005). Conclusion and recommendation: The study find that there is low level of knowledge on ways to assess airway patency, use of Bag Valve and Mask for patient with shallow breathing. The study recommend that general ward nurses should be provided with relevant trainings in support of appropriate nursing care to post ICU patients.