Assessment of knowledge, skill and attitude of oncology nurses in chemotherapy administration in tertiary hospital Pakistan

Abstract

Objective: To measure the levels of nurse’s knowledge and attitude after the conduct of education session regarding chemotherapy administration and management. Methodology: This research study was conducted at two oncology units of tertiary Hospital Rawalpindi. A prepost test intervention study design was used on 35 nurses by using Verity’s tools. Results: The mean scores of knowledge were calculated by Cochran’s Q test showed that knowledge scores have significantly increased with ‘educational training’ (p value < 0.001). The difference in the attitude of the nurses was not found to be statistically significant in repeated measure of ANOVA. Conclusion: The results show that knowledge is the weakest component and attitude is strongest component of oncology nurses ‘competencies in chemotherapy administration

Improving Safety-Related Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Nurses Handling Cytotoxic Anticancer Drug: Pharmacists' Experience in a General Hospital, Malaysia

“…On top of that, the interventions had led to the change of nurses' attitude towards certain safety-related issues. The confidence level among the nurses to handle cytotoxic drugs safely after the interventions (79.2%) was comparable to the findings in a recent Pakistani study (77%) (Khan et al, 2012). Besides that, their awareness on long-term hazardous effects due to the occupational exposure was significantly improved.…”

“…The percentage of nurses who believed that using PPE was not necessary during cytotoxic drug handling was also tremendously decreased. This finding is again comparable to the achievement of Pakistani nurses (Khan et al, 2012). Meanwhile, their levels of tolerance towards their own and co-workers' improper practices were alleviated.…”

“…The knowledge levels on the cytotoxic hazardous effects, usage of PPE and safe handling measures were generally improved, too. Overall, the findings of nurses' knowledge assessment reflect the effectiveness of education and training which has been claimed as a useful tool to improve the nurses' knowledge on cytotoxic drug handling (Ahmad, 2001;Turk et al, 2004;Kosgeroglou et al, 2006;Khan et al, 2012;Yuan et al, 2012). This achievement is exceptionally encouraging as our hospital had fewer nurses (9.4%) receiving formal post-registration training on chemotherapy than did UK (96%), Cyprus (18.2%) and Pakistani (37.0%) hospitals (Verity et al, 2008;Kyprianou et al, 2010;Khan et al, 2012).…”

“…There is an increasing trend of occupational exposure to cytotoxic hazards among the healthcare workers as cancer patients are usually diagnosed at earlier stages and receiving multiple chemotherapy regimens for a longer period of time nowadays (Ben-Ami et al, 2001;Turk et al, 2004;Connor and McDiarmid, 2006;Verity et al, 2008;Kyprianou et al 2010;Elshamy et al, 2010;Khan et al, 2012). Cytotoxic drugs are therapeutic agents mainly used in chemotherapy for their actions on killing cancerous cells.…”

Obstacles' And Facilitators Facing Safe Administration Of Chemotherapy by Oncology Nurses

“…The current study in line with the findings of the study by Khan et al ; ( 2012) [35] indicated that oncology nurses had poor knowledge and skills. Unsafe chemotherapy administration considered especially when nurses had no updated and advanced knowledge and not competent in skills of administration.…”