Initial Management of Myocardial Infarction Among Nurses in the Critical Care Units at Orotta & Halibet National Referral Hospitals, Asmara, Eritrea

Abstract

Background: Myocardial infarction is one of the most common coronary heart lesions referred to as an invisible epidemic in the 21st century. Despite the growing burden, myocardial infarction continues to receive a relatively low public health priority in Eritrea as it is evident in many other African countries. A nurse must have adequate knowledge regarding the underlying mechanisms, subtle and obvious signs and must also possess competency of the emergency management. Aim: This study aimed to assess the knowledge of nurses of the Emergency and Intensive Care Unit nurses regarding initial management of myocardial infarction at the two National Referral Hospitals, in Asmara, Eritrea. Methods: A quantitative, cross sectional study was conducted at Emergency and Intensive Care Units. Data was collected from all the two units using a researcher administered structured questionnaire which was deliberated upon by a team of competent professional in the field of research before data collection. Analysis was carried out in SPSS (version 22) using chi-square, and independent t-test. The result was tested at significance level of 0.05. Result: The study participants were 54 nurses from both hospitals. 40.7% of the nurses were found with poor level of knowledge. Nurses in the age group between26-35years were observed to have better knowledge compared to ≤ 25 years (p=0.006) as well as 36 years or above (p=1.000). Significant knowledge difference was observed among associate, diploma and degree nurses (P=0.002). The Emergency and Intensive Care Units were found to have a significant association with knowledge at (p=0.001). There was no significant association (p=0.908) in Emergency and (p=0.760) in ICU in the level of knowledge among the staff within each unit. Conclusion: Poor level of knowledge regarding initial management of myocardial infarction was evident among the large number of the nurses. This study recommends up grading and refresher courses to all the nurses who are working in Emergency and intensive care units at the above referral hospitals.