Nurse's knowledge, practice and associated factors towards hypothermia prevention among trauma patients Visiting Woldiya and Dessie Comprehensive Specialized Hospitals, North East Ethiopia, 2022

Abstract

Background: Hypothermia is a condition which is common in emergency and general surgical patients. Trauma patients are particularly prone to hypothermia for multiple reasons and are associated with poor patient outcomes. This study aims to assess nurse's knowledge, practice and associated factors towards hypothermia prevention among trauma patients Visiting Woldiya and Dessie Comprehensive Specialized Hospitals. Methods: Institutional-based cross-sectional study design was conducted at Woldiya and Dessie Comprehensive specialized hospital from February–March 2022. The data was collected on 328 nurses working in these hospitals by structured self-administer questioner. EPi-data versions 4.6.0 and SPSS version 25 were used for data entry, cleaning and analysis. Tables, text and graphs were used to present the data. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression was performed to examine the association between dependent and independent variables with Odds ratio at 95% confidence interval. Result: In this study half (50.9 %) respondents had poor knowledge on hypothermia prevention in trauma patients and 65.9 % respondents have poor practice as well. Working < 6 years (AOR = 2.034(1.098, 3.770)), diploma certificate (AOR = 5.200(1.244, 21.733)) and adolescent age (AOR = 0.296(0.094, 0.936)) have significance association with nurses knowledge on hypothermia in trauma victims. Working < 5 years (AOR=0.387(0.197, 0.761)) and BSc degree (AOR = 0.282(0.141, 0.563)) have significance association with nurses practice on hypothermia prevention in trauma victims. Conclusion: Nursing knowledge and practice regarding hypothermia prevention in trauma patients is poor in this study. Age, work experience and educational level affect knowledge and the last two affect the practice of nurses on preventing hypothermia in trauma patients.

Keywords

• Hypothermia
• Knowledge
• Practice
• Trauma
• Ethiopia