Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Physicians and Nurses Working in Addis Ababa on Oxygen therapy

Abstract

  Background: Oxygen is a commonly used drug in the clinical setting and like other drugs its use must be considered carefully. It is administered daily to a wide number of patients in the emergency care setting. But the knowledge and skill of health care providers is not well known. Objective: The study sought to gain full understanding on physicians and nurses’ knowledge, attitude and practice on clinical administration of oxygen and factors associated with it. Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was used. The target population was all physicians and nurses working in the emergency department during the study period. Data was collected using structured questioners that measured physicians and nurses’ knowledge, attitude and practice about oxygen therapy including associated factors.   Results: This study proved that overall mean and standard deviation of knowledge and practice of physicians on oxygen therapy are satisfactory with respective result of 72&7, and 71&20 while their attitude on oxygen therapy is unsatisfactory, 49&23. Among nurses all variables were unsatisfactory with respective mean value of knowledge, attitude and practice of 35 ,32and 46. Conclusion: This study concluded that, majority of the studied sample of physicians had satisfactory level of knowledge and practice, but unsatisfactory level of attitude towards oxygen therapy. The majority of studied sample of nurses had unsatisfactory level of knowledge, attitude and practice regarding oxygen therapy. Lack of proper training, absence of guide lines on oxygen therapy, inadequate supply and delivery system of oxygen in the ER, heavy workload, and incomplete written prescription for oxygen therapy were the contributing factors.