Nursing awareness of oxygen therapy among nurses at selected district hospital in Nepal

Abstract

Relevance. Oxygen therapy is commonly used in the emergency and critical cases which is the first line treatment in many critical conditions. Oxygen therapy is a medical treatment prescribed mainly for hypoxic patients, which provides oxygen at higher concentrations than that found in atmosphere (>21%). Oxygen administering depends on the needs of the patients’ conditions and in some cases medical treatment. The present study aims to assess the level of awareness on oxygen therapy among nurses and examine the association between level of knowledge, attitude and selected socio-demographic variables. Materials and Methods. A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study design was used. A non-probability purposive sampling technique was used to select 125 samples. The data were collected for 6 weeks using a semi-structured self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation) was used for quantitative data analysis and inferential statistics (chi-square) were used to find out the association between level of knowledge, attitude and selected socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents. Results and Discussion. The study revealed that 74.4% of the nurses had unsatisfactory level of knowledge, 20% had average knowledge and 5.6% had satisfactory level of knowledge regarding oxygen therapy. A significant association was found between the knowledge level and age, educational status and experience of the respondents (p=0.001, 0.000, 0.016). Conclusion. The study concluded that the level of knowledge among nurses regarding oxygen therapy has lower than expected and is unsatisfactory. The results of the study can provide a framework for the healthcare policymakers to develop and implement educational programs on oxygen therapy for nurses in hospital setting.