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

Abstract

Background and objective: Renal failure is a worldwide public health concern due to the significant increase of patients each year. Diet and nutrition play a crucial role in symptom management, quality of life and survival of renal failure patients, as well as the prevention of disease progression. This study aimed to assess nurses’ knowledge of the nutritional management of patients with renal failure and to find out the relationship between nurses’ knowledge and their socio-demographic characteristics. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional research design was used from April to August 2016. A purposive sample of 51 nurses at the Dialysis Unit of Hawler Teaching Hospital and Hawler Dialysis Center, Kurdistan Region, Iraq were recruited and completed a self-reported questionnaire. Results: Most participating nurses were male (76.5%), and the majority (52.9%) were between 26-32 years old . Most of them were married (68.6%), had a diploma certificate (58.7%) with 37.3% having 4-7 years of working experience at the two above-noted dialysis centers. The majority of nurses (70.6%) had fair knowledge score, while 17.6% had a good knowledge score and 11.8% had a low knowledge score. Conclusion: The majority of nurses had fair knowledge regarding nutritional management for renal failure patients.

Keywords

• Knowledge
• Renal failure
• Diet
• Nurse