Assessment of Nurse’s Level of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Oral Care in Pediatric and Adult Intensive Care Units, Asmara, Eritrea, East Africa.

Abstract

Background

Poor knowledge and attitude have the potential to compromise the quality of patient care and result in unsafe practice. The aim of the study was, therefore, to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of pediatric and adult ICU nurses to wards oral care.

Methods

A cross-sectional quantitative and observational design was applied at the generalized pediatric and adult ICUs. Data for knowledge and attitude level were collected from all (n=30) diploma nurses and health assistants through face to face interview using pretested and structured questionnaire. In the other hand, data for the assessment of practice was collected from all participants through observational checklist. Descriptive analysis and spearman rank correlation coefficient tools were performed to analyze the data using SPSS (Version 20).

Result

Of the total, 73.3% were diploma nurses and 26.7% were health assistants. Majority of the nurses were having more than 50% knowledge score. Of the total participants, 96.6 % of the nurses agreed that oral cavity assessment is nurse’s responsibility and 80% were received adequate training to provide oral care. Moreover, the majority (97%) of participants perceived oral care to be a high priority. However, the majority (67%) of participants mostly used normal saline and gauze for oral care. In addition, around half (48.3%) of the participants reported that there was no any oral care protocol or guidelines in the hospital. Nevertheless, there is no significant difference in knowledge between ICU nurses with different educational level (p=0.398) and years of working experience was found (p=0.273). In the other hand, during the observational study, oral cleaning was performed using normal saline and gauze. From those observed, 90% did oropharyngeal suctioning for a patient in need.

Conclusion

Even though nurses are knowledgeable and ranked oral care a high priority, the practice varies among the nurses. The existence of various oral care practices indicate that there is a need of a standardized oral care protocol or guidelines that includes tooth brushing and use of chlorohexidine mouthwash.