Knowledge and Attitudes of Nurses toward the Use of Nursing Diagnosis in Clinical Practice

Abstract

The study is aimed at evaluating the knowledge, perceptions, difficulties, and advantages associated with the use of Nursing Diagnosis (ND) in clinical practice by nurses. A cross – sectional study was conducted in April 2017 at Vlore Regional Hospital, Albania and included 43 nurses. For the data collection, an anonymous self-administered questionnaire was used. The Likert 1-5 rating scale was used for scoring the answers, 1-not difficult/small advantage and 5-very difficult/big advantage. Values of p≤0.05 were considered statistically significant. 51.16% of participants were women, mean of age 32 years, SD±7.17. A statistical association was found between the use of ND and the practice setting, p=0.0394. Knowledge about ND is gained through work or during studies. The use of ND was requested at work (60.47%) and 53.49% of nurses refer not to use it. The perceived difficulties are higher in female nurses (2.5), while nurses who use ND reported that the difficulties are related to lack of time and an understandable language. The maximum average score (4.0) for the benefits of using in function of improving and promoting nursing care with clinical standards were higher in male nurses. Among ND cited by nurses gaps in knowledge and confusion with medical diagnosis were identified. Findings suggest that improving clinical nursing practice through increased continuing education of nursing staff and improving curricula for ND can influence the proper use of ND, with a significant impact on the quality of care provided.