Nutrition knowledge, attitudes and practices among healthcare workers in management of chronic kidney diseases in selected hospitals in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global public health problem. All health care professionals need to be knowledgeable and competent in nutrition as it applies to health promotion, prevention and treatment of acute and chronic diseases. Nutrition intervention is an important component in optimizing diet among CKD patients. However, there is limited information on the nutrition knowledge on management of CKD among healthcare workers in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. This study assessed nutrition knowledge, attitudes and current practices of healthcare workers in management of patients with CKD in selected hospitals. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted amongst 133 healthcare workers in renal units in selected hospitals from December 2011 to March 2012. Hospitals were purposively selected based on the availability of renal care services in the facility. Nutrition knowledge and practices were assessed using a standardized questionnaire. Knowledge levels were categorised as > 61 % "adequate"41-60 % "moderate" and 1-40 % "low". Attitudes were measured using a 5 Likert scale. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize data. Chi-square was used to test the relationship between categorical variables. A p -value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean nutrition knowledge score among health care workers was 9.8 (SD 3.12). There was a significant difference in the nutrition knowledge among carders (p ≤ 0.001). Medical specialists had a higher mean score (13.75) compared to medical doctors and nurses with mean scores 12.05 and 9.51 respectively. Other cadres had lower mean score of 8.65. Likert scale showed that 94 % had positive attitudes on the role of nutrition in preventing and treating diseases. Most of respondents (92 %) did not use any nutrition guidelines. Nutrition management were discussed occasionally during ward rounds. There were significant relationship between age group (χ 2 = 16.69; p = 0.01), work experience (χ 2 = 18.61; p < 0.01) and nutrition knowledge of participants.

Qualitative exploration of the experiences of renal dietitians and how they help patients with end stage kidney disease to understand the renal diet

“…However, little is known about the knowledge base or impact of non‐dietetic nephrology staff providing dietary advice to patients. Only two small surveys have been published and these indicate that the nutrition knowledge of renal health professionals (such as nurses and doctors) was suboptimal . This is of concern because many health professionals believe they have a significant role in the provision of dietary advice to patients with chronic disease .…”

“…Only two small surveys have been published and these indicate that the nutrition knowledge of renal health professionals (such as nurses and doctors) was suboptimal. 48,49 This is of concern because many health professionals believe they have a significant role in the provision of dietary advice to patients with chronic disease. 50 Furthermore, findings from a study of patients receiving dietary advice for cardiac rehabilitation indicated that patients stopped following dietary recommendations after receiving contradictory advice from other health professionals.…”

Nurses’ knowledge of the nutritional management of renal failure in Erbil City, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

“…Nurses who work in renal units with a good or moderate knowledge level play an important role in patient education. 27 In our study, the overall nurses' knowledge related to the nutritional management of renal failure was fair. The majority of nurses (70.6%) had fair knowledge score and (17.6%) had a good knowledge score.…”

“…Instead, nurses who had fewer years of experience had a higher knowledge score. The study performed by Munuo et al 27 recognized Discussion that the knowledge level is not related to the increase in working experience. Similar results were found in another evaluation study, which was conducted among licensed nurses working at a nursing home in the United States.…”

“…They were also assured that their information will be kept confidential using codes instead of their personal information. In the current study, after reviewing the related literature, a self-reported questionnaire was constructed based on a questioner that was developed by Munuo et al 27 with a few modifications to collect necessary data, which consisted of two parts. The first part was about the socio-demographic characteristics of nurses who work in dialysis units, such as sex, age, marital status, professional qualifications and working experience per year in a dialysis unit.…”