The Self-Rated and Actual Pharmacology Knowledge of Intensive Care Nurses in New Zealand

Abstract

Background: Medication administration is a critical aspect of nursing practice, and has significant implications for patient safety. The quality of medication administration depends on the knowledge and attitudes of nurses who are the ones to assess and monitor the therapeutic and adverse response of the patient. Intensive Care is an area that requires staff to manage patients with a wide range of selected medications, often in highly stressful situations. It is essential that nurses have an extensive pharmacology knowledge base in order to understand the complexities of medication management in the critically ill and safely undertake this role.

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the self-rated and actual pharmacology knowledge of intensive care nurses in New Zealand. Methods: A quantitative study was undertaken for the purposes of investigating the pharmacology knowledge of intensive care nurses. A descriptive correlational design was utilised to determine the level of knowledge nurese have of intensive care medications and to explore if relationshops existed between this knowledge and their professional characteristics and confidence in adminstering these medications. A survey approach was taken using a self-administered questionnaire. Data collection took place over 12 weeks, from September 2010 to December 2010. The sample included 510 intensive care nurses from six public hospital intensive care units in New Zealand. Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the multi-region ethics committee. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Results: Despite study limitations, the findings inidicate that pharmacology knowledge is poor. Self-rated knowledge, confidence and actual knowledge were not strongly correlated with nursing or intensive care experience or education level. In addition nurses' self-ratings of knowledge were often over-estimated. The only significant positive influence on scores was attendance at pharmacology courses or in-service education sessions; as these nurses obtained better tested knowledge scores for each medication as well as self-rating their knowledge and confidence higher. Conclusion: As no previous New Zealand study has investigated the pharmacology knowledge of intensive care nurses, the results of this research offer a valuable insight into the knowledge of this specialist group of nurses and add to a consistent, growing body of literature suggesting that pharmacology knowledge is problematic and needs addressing. Improvement in undergraduate education, competency assessment and continuing education would effectively contribute to the ongoing effort to improve nurses' knowledge. The findings also establish the need for further nursing research into this important area of nursing knowledge.