Competency assessment of oncology nurses in chemotherapy administration at the army hospital Rawalpindi, Pakistan : an inventional study
Date of Award
2011
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Nursing (MScN)
Department
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Pakistan
Abstract
Competence is delivery of correct knowledge in practice and an important clement in the nursing profession. Nursing competencies in cancer care have become pivotal because chemotherapy administration is a very complex domain. It is important that nurses should be competent to provide speclized care to cancer patients and their competencies should be assessed at regular basis. Objective: To explore the levels of clinical competence to identify the existing knowledge, skills, and attitude of oncology nurses' and to describe their perceptions about obstacles to oncology education regarding chemotherapy administration and management. Methodology: This research study was conducted at two units (AFBMTC and CMH) of Army Hospital Rawalpindi, on practicing oncology nurses. A prepost -test- intervention study design was used. A sample of 35 nurses was involved in the study. The participants' s knowledge, attitude, and obstacles' to oncology education were assessed through Verity's tool consisting of multiple choice questions (MCQs) and two open ended questions while the skills of the participants were observed through Silva's checklist. Results: The data was analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Difference in knowledge was analyzed through repeated measure of ANOVA. The mean scores of knowledge, skills and attitude were calculated by Cochran's Q test. The result showed the knowledge and skills scores of the participants increased significantly after the educational intervention in post-test one and two. The difference in the attitude of the nurses was not found to be statistically significant in ANOVA. Moreover, the participants identified many barriers to acquiring chemotherapy education in Army Nursing, and its standardization across the state. Conclusion: The knowledge of current study may be considered as an important addition to the existing body of knowledge, in the Pakistani context. The results will provide bases for the interventions targeting nurses by providing them opportunities of continuing professional educations regarding chemotherapy administration. Further studies need to be conducted to compare the competencies of Army and non-Army nurses and to explore the factors affecting attitudinal change. The policies regarding nurses' higher education and posting of specialized nurses should be revised in Army Nursing.
Recommended Citation
Khan, N. (2011). Competency assessment of oncology nurses in chemotherapy administration at the army hospital Rawalpindi, Pakistan : an inventional study (Unpublished doctoral thesis). Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.