Assessing Nurses' Knowledge regarding Ventilator Mechanics

Abstract

Background: Advanced ventilation technologies require critical nursing management to facilitate patientcare. The nursing workforce in the intensive care units (ICUs) should have basic knowledge and understanding of the ventilator and its mechanics to recognise adverse events and improve the care quality. Methods: A pre-experimental study using an educational intervention was conducted in the ICUs at a tertiary care hospital, was conducted to assess the baseline knowledge of nursing staff about ventilator mechanics and respiratory physiology, and to identify the effectiveness of the module and teaching sessions on their knowledge score. A self-administered and structured questionnaire was used to collect data. A self-developed educational module was used as an intervention. Descriptive analysis was reported for demographic characteristics; paired t-test was conducted to identify difference in mean scores before and after intervention; and stratified analysis was also performed. Results: The knowledge scores significantly increased at 95% CI (P-value = 0.00) after conducting the intervention. The mean post-test score was significantly higher with a difference of 7.77 (P-value < 0.05). Conclusion: Nursing knowledge regarding ventilator mechanics becomes important to ensure safe and quality nursing care. Continuous professional nursing education is important to improve nursing knowledge and quality patientcare.