Assessment of the nutritional knowledge of registered nurses

Abstract

Nutritional care may be provided by many different groups of health care professionals. However, nurses are the largest group of adjunct nutrition educators and providers of nutritional care. The objectives of this study were to determine the level of nutritional knowledge of registered nurses employed by a community hospital and to determine if the level of knowledge was influenced by work unit and nursing education. A nutrition knowledge questionnaire was developed, reviewed for content validity and subsequently revised. The questionnaire consisted of 30 multiple choice questions, 15 in the area of basic nutrition, and 15 in the area of nutrition in health and disease. Questionnaires were made available at all nursing units and to the instuctors at the hospital's school of nursing. All registered nurses were encouraged to complete a questionnaire. 94 subjects completed the questionnaire for a response rate of 48%. Overall nutrition knowledge was low,with a mean questionnaire score of 18.8 ± 0.37 standard error of the mean. The best results were obtained in the area of nutrition in health and disease with a score of 10.6 ± 0.18 (sem); the lowest scores were in the area of basic nutrition with a score of 8.19 ± 0.26 (sem). Statistical analysis was done using ANOVA. Statistically significant differences were found between the educational groups in both total scores (F=.024) and basic nutrition scores (F = .016). Statistically significant differences were also found between work units in total scores (F=.001), basic nutrition scores (F=.003), and nutrition in health and disease scores (F=.008). Results of this study may indicate a need for the expansion of the nutrition content in the nursing school curriculum, especially in the area of basic nutrition. Registered dietitians should take a more active role in the nutrition education of the registered nurse.