Competency of Nurses Working in Adult Emergency Room at Electrocardiography Interpretation :Multicenter Study in Addis Ababa,Ethiopia,2021.
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Date
2021-03
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Background; Electrocardiogram (ECG) is a procedure of recording the electrical activity of the
heart within a period of time using electrodes placed over the chest. Basic ECG rhythms, such as
normal sinus rhythm, sinus tachycardia, sinus bradycardia, atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, heart
blocks, ventricular fibrillation, and asystole should be recognized by any nurse. Nurses are
normally the first responders to an in-hospital cardiac arrest in health care facilities, and they
must be proficient in basic resuscitation skills.
Objective: the objective of this study was to assess the Competency of nurses working in the
adult emergency room at ECG interpretation: a multicenter study in Addis Ababa ethiopia2021.
Method: An institutional-based descriptive, cross-sectional study design using a quantitative
research method with convenience sampling method was used to enroll 175 nurses in five
hospitals at adult ER. Data was collected by using standard self-administered questionnaires
which were adapted from ECG guidelines. The data was checked for its’ completeness and
entered into Epi data version 7.2.2 Then data was imported to SPSS version 26 software for
analysis. The descriptive results were presented with frequency distribution tables, graphs and its
association were analyzed by fishers extract test instead of X 2 due to occurrence of some
observed number being less than 5with significant value of (p<0.05).
RESULT: out of 203respondents 175 were actively participated with a response rate of
86.2%.from those respondents 175nurses, 159(90.9%) were not competent (scored <65%) only
16(9.1%) were competent (scored>65%) the mean score was 6.82 from 20 questions and (SD=±
3.65).the minimum score was5% and the maximum score was 90%.
Conclusion: the overall level of competency of nurses about ECG interpretation is low. This is
difficult to monitor and manage arrhythmias. Level of education and training were a determinant
factor to enhance their competency.
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Keywords
ECG interpretation, arrhythmias, competency