NURSES’ KNOWLEDGE REGARDING ADMINISTRATION OF DRUGS DURING CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION AT CHITWAN MEDICAL COLLEGE

Abstract

Background: Nurses play vital role in prevention of deaths related to cardiac emergencies by administering cardiac emergency drugs. So, nurses have sufficient pharmacological knowledge for the proper administration of Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation drugs to prevent from medication error. The study aimed to find out the nurses’ knowledge regarding administration of drugs during Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used among 103 nurses working in different units of Chitwan Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Bharatpur. Non-probability consecutive sampling technique was used to select desired sample. Data were collected using structured self-administered questionnaire. Data analysis was done using IBM SPSS version 20 and interpreted in terms of descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage & median) and inferential statistics (chi-square test).

Results: This study findings showed that the median age of nurses was 23years, majority (81.6%) were unmarried, 41.8% were Brahmin and 83.5% were Hindu. Concerning professional qualification, 64.1% nurses were completed PCL Nursing, 81.5% nurses worked as a staff nurse and median working experience was 2 years. Majority of nurses (86.4%) had performed CPR and 44.7%had not received ACLS training. The study showed that more than half (55.3%) had adequate level of knowledge regarding CPR medications and level of knowledge is statistically significant association with nurses age, experience of CPR and ACLS training.

Conclusions: Less than half of the nurses have inadequate knowledge regarding administration of drugs during CPR. Thus there is need of training on resuscitation medications among nurses to upgrade their knowledge.