Abstract
Background: anticoagulants are high-risk drugs so it is very important to monitor the patients receiving anti-coagulant therapy. Aim:assess the nurses' performance regardingcaring of patients on anticoagulant therapy in Port Said Hospitals. Subjects and Method: a descriptive research design was used A convenient sample of 130 nurses at three hospitals affiliated to Ministry of Health (Port-Said General Hospital, Port-Fouad General Hospital and El-Zohor Central Hospital) at Port-Said governeratewere recruited. Tools: data were collected using three tools, nurses' knowledge assessment questionnaire, nurses' attitude scale and observational checklist for practice. Results: the result of study indicated that 66.9% of studied nurses had got unsatisfactory knowledge and 69.2% of them had got unsatisfactory practice while 60.8% of them had positive attitude regarding anticoagulant therapy. Conclusion: the study concluded that more than two thirds of the studied nurses had unsatisfactory knowledge, practice and less two thirds of them had positive attitude regarding caring of patients on anticoagulant therapy and there were a highly statistically significant positive correlation between total nurses' knowledge, practice scores and their total attitude scores .In addition, there is no statistically significant relations between total score of nurses' knowledge, practice, and attitude and all items of personal characteristics and work related data. Recommendations: There are obvious needs for conducting educational and training programs to improve nurses’ knowledge and practice regarding the care of patients undergoing anticoagulant therapy.
Highlights
Thromboembolic events commonly occur in critically ill patients, they don't consistently present with specific signs and symptoms, they are associated with high morbidity and mortality (Flato et al, 2012)
Anticoagulant agents are the mainstay of the prevention and treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE), and they are used for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation, acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and anticoagulation of prosthetic valves (Barnes, 2015)
Table (2): shows that 52.3%of the studied nurses have more than 10 years of experience while 7.7% of them have less than one year,and 81.5% of them have more than 2years experience in the field of anticoagulant therapy and the majority 91.5% of nurses were not attending programs or courses in the field of anticoagulant drugs, 83.1% of nurses had not any guidelines in their hospital about anticoagulant therapy, and 71.5%
Summary
Thromboembolic events commonly occur in critically ill patients, they don't consistently present with specific signs and symptoms, they are associated with high morbidity and mortality (Flato et al, 2012). Anticoagulant agents are the mainstay of the prevention and treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE), and they are used for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation, acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and anticoagulation of prosthetic valves (Barnes, 2015). The use of anticoagulants is a decision based upon the risks and benefits of anticoagulation. Complication of anticoagulant is bleeding dividing into minor complications of bleeding as excessive bruising, gum bleeding, minor nosebleeds and prolonged bleeding from minor wounds and serious complications of bleeding as compartment syndrome, gastrointestinal bleeding, severe nosebleeds, post-operative bleeding, and intracranial hemorrhage (Staresinic et al, 2006)
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