Critical care nurses' knowledge about enteral tube feeding at public sector hospital, Lahore

INTRODUCTION: This study aim was to assess critical care nurses’ knowledge about Enteral Tube Feeding at public sector hospital, Lahore.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used to assess the critical care nurses’ knowledge about enteral feeding at Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology, Lahore. Stratified sampling was utilized to select the participants from the list of the ICU nurses. List was obtained from the Hospital and out of 271, 54 nurses were selected in this study. A structured questionnaire sheet was used to assess nurses’ knowledge about enteral tube feeding.

RESULTS: That majority of critical care nurses had overall moderate level of knowledge about enteral tube feeding. There was a significant association between the level of education and sources of knowledge about enteral tube feeding. More than half of the critical care nurses had a three-year nursing diploma and five years or less of work experience, either as general nurses or as critical care unit nurses.

DISCUSSION: The results of the current study have revealed that the age of the majority of the critical care nurses’ was 20 years old and above. This result indicate that most participants were fresh graduates who were assigned together to work in ICUs.

CONCLUSION: The study concluded that, the majority of the critical care nurses had adequate level of knowledge about enteral feeding.

RECOMMENDATION: The study recommended that, Implementation of training program for nurses regarding enteral feeding. Continuous monitoring and teaching on spot from nurse supervisor are needed to ensure quality of care provided by nurses for enteral feeding.