Knowledge, Attitude And Practice Of Patient Teaching Among Nurses In Primary Health Care Centres In Degema Local Government Area Of Rivers State

Abstract

This study investigated the knowledge, attitude and practice of patient teaching among nurses in primary health care centres in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State. The descriptive survey design was used for the study. The population consisted of all nurse in primary health centres during the period of study. The population of nurses in the primary health centres totaled 42. However, only 35 were sampled using purposive sampling technique. Structured questionnaire titled “Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Patient Teaching among Nurses Questionnaire (KAPPTNQ) was used for data collection. The instrument consisted of two (2) sections (A and B); Section A contained items on the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents while section B contained items reflecting the study variables. Data Analysis was done using simple frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation. Results revealed that majority of the nurses were knowledgeable about patient teaching; however, a large proportion of the nurses have negative attitude towards health teaching; majority of the nurses do not practice health teaching; the major challenges nurses encounter in patient health teaching include poor communication skills of some nurses, lack of confidence among some nurses and time constraint. Hence the need for patient teaching to be encouraged among nurses to as a matter of routine inpatient care delivery