Highlights
- •Specialist nurses are not only more knowledge but their knowledge levels are less variable compared to those among generalist nurses in caring for patients with heart failure.
- •Specialist nurses may not be sufficiently knowledgeable in daily weight monitoring, comparison of weights, and hypotension.
- •The knowledge levels of specialist nurses were significantly impacted by race and confidence level; in contract, the knowledge levels for generalist nurses were likely to be influenced by race and years of experience in taking care of patients with heart failure.
- •Qualitative themes were demonstrated and addressed critical knowledge barriers to insufficient heart failure knowledge among nurses.
Abstract
Background
Nurses’ knowledge of heart failure (HF) is highly variable, ranging from expert to
poor, potentially leading to inadequate self-care.
Objectives
(1) document the knowledge variation of HF assessment and management among specialist
and generalist nurses; (2) determine factors that may be associated with nurses’ knowledge;
and (3) describe nurses’ views of knowledge deficits and ways to improve nurses’ knowledge
to better meet the needs educational interventions.
Method
Members of the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses and Registered Nurses
were invited to participate in a cross-sectional survey. Independent samples t-test, chi-square, and linear regression were used for quantitative analysis. Text
analysis was applied to analyze the themes of qualitative comments.
Results
A total of 918 nurses completed the survey. Specialist nurses had higher scores than
generalist nurses with statistically significant F-test for diet, fluid, signs/symptoms,
medication, and exercise. Both specialist and generalist nurses were least knowledgeable
about dry weight, asymptomatic hypotension, and transient dizziness. Being a specialist
nurse was associated with higher level of knowledge scores. Years of experience and
race were significant factors associated with knowledge scores in generalist nurses.
Confidence level and race were significant predictors for specialist nurses. Three
themes emerged regarding the cause of nurses’ insufficient knowledge and several approaches
were provided.
Conclusions
Specialist nurses are not only knowledgeable, but their knowledge levels are less
variable compared to generalist nurses. There is a need to identify additional factors
that may potentially influence nurses’ knowledge, contributing to the effectiveness
of interventions.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 23, 2022
Accepted:
November 17,
2022
Received in revised form:
November 12,
2022
Received:
August 24,
2022
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
