Assessment Of Nurse's Attitude And Practice Toward Patient Teaching In Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Zaria.

Abstract:

The study was carried out to assess nurses' attitudes and practices towards Patient Teaching in Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Zaria. The objectives of this study are to assess nurses' attitudes toward patient teaching, to find out whether nurses practice patient teaching in ABUTH, to identify strategies and types of patient teaching adopted by nurses in ABUTH, to determine challenges nurses encounter in patient teaching in ABUTH, Zaria. A cross-sectional descriptive study was used for the study. Relevant literature was reviewed. A sample size of eighty-seven (87) was used for the study. Online questionnaires were used to collect data from the respondents. The data collected was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25. The findings in this study reveal that the majority of the respondents (79.1%) strongly agreed that they view patient teaching as a core responsibility for nurses, 97.7% of the respondents engaged in patient teaching, and 51.7% said they use the unplanned (informal) method of teaching. 40.2% of the respondents use the discussion method (one-to-one/group discussion) to teach adult patients, 42.5% of the respondents use storybooks as a teaching tool for children, 37.9% of the respondents indicated a conducive environment as a strategy for patient teaching. 65.5% indicated that they encounter shortage of staff, 77.0% of the respondents indicated that cultural and religious beliefs prevent them from patient teaching. Based on the findings, it was concluded that the Nurses in Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Zaria have a positive attitude and practice towards Patient Teaching and it was recommended that the ways to improve nurses' attitude and practice of patient teaching is by employment of more nurses to enable them to have time to teach patients, provision of adequate teaching materials, and a conducive environment.