Exploring the effect of professional experience on knowledge towards geriatric care among nurses working in adult care units

BMC Geriatrics

Tesfaye Alemayehu Messele¹  Metadel Adane²  Erkihun Tadesse Amsalu³ 

[1] Amara regional health Bureau, Bahr-Dar, Ethiopia;Department of Environmental Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia;Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia;

关键词: Knowledge;    Nurses;    Geriatric care;    Adult care unit;    Ethiopia;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12877-021-02156-3

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe elder population suffered from social, economic, and health (which includes physical) related problems. Thus, these problems are complex and interrelated, thereby requiring specific knowledge and expertise to meet them. However, there were limited researches previously done to explore nurse’s knowledge towards geriatric care. Therefore, this study aimed to assess knowledge towards geriatric care and to examine its predictors in North east Ethiopia. The findings will be helpful to develop strategies that would promote nurses’ knowledge, which in turn improves the quality of patient care and consequently, the health of older people.MethodsA facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from March 8 to 28, 2020, among 335 nurses. Simple random sampling technique was employed to select study participants. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on knowledge of nurses towards older adult care. A multivariable logistic regression model was applied to identify significant predictors and P-value< 0.05 was used to declare the significance of association.ResultsIn the study, a total of 335 nurses participated. About 192(57.3%) of them had poor knowledge towards older adult care. Thus, level of education (AOR = 1.9, 95%CI: 1.1–3.2), year of experience 1–5 year (AOR = 2.7, 95%CI: 1.5–4.9), 5–10 years (AOR = 2.5, 95%CI: 1.4–4.4), and previously living with older adult at home (AOR = 1.6, 95%CI: 1.05–2.7) were significant predictors of knowledge on older adult care.ConclusionsOur study showed; most of nurses had poor knowledge of the care of elder patients. Level of education, level of experience, and lived with the older adult were factors that contributed for poor knowledge. Thus, professional organizations should focus on changing nursing curricula and providing professional development workshops to improve the knowledge of nurses on geriatric care.

【 授权许可】

CC BY