PEER-REVIEWED PAPE Australian and American Registered Nurse Device Education

Abstract

Australian (N = 238) and American (N = 106) registered nurses providing direct patient care in tertiary care centers on units with high usage of indwelling urethral (Foley) catheters and intravenous infusion pumps were surveyed to compare how and what they learned about a simple device and a complex device, and to compare the consequences of simple with complex device use both for patients and registered nurses. In general, the Australian and American nurses were similar. Instruction in nursing school and from another staff member were the most frequently identified methods of learning to use the Foley catheter and the intravenous infusion pump, respectively, for both sets of nurses. Nurses from both countries were significantly more likely to learn facts about the Foley catheter than the infusion pump. Australian and American nurses were significantly more likely to feel stress when using the intravenous infusion pump than when using the Foley catheter but were significantly more likely to have used a Foley catheter that caused a patient harm than to have used an infusion pump that caused a patient harm.