Level of Knowledge, Practice and Attitudes of Taking Anthropometric Measurements for Nutritional Assessments Among Nurses

Abstract

The nutritional care of patients is one of the primary responsibilities of the nurses in any hospital. Nursing ability to early detect nutritional failure is the key factor for minimizing impurities in practice and attaining nutritional goals. The objective of this study is therefore to determine the level of knowledge, practice, and attitudes of taking anthropometric measurements for nutritional assessments by registered staff nurses. A descriptive cross-sectional study was done using a random sample of 125 nurses at a teaching hospital in the Western Province. Self-administered questionnaire with both open and close ended questions were used to gather information. A scoring method was introduced to assess the knowledge of the nurses based on answers for the questions. Majority (88%) of the nurses are females and 47% are less than 30 years. Results found that the level of knowledge of getting measurements by the nurses can be ranked as good (52.8%) > average > (38.4%) and poor > (8.8%) irrespective of demographic factors of the nurses. Level of knowledge is significantly associated only with the educational level. The percentage of having good knowledge among those having B.Sc. degree is significantly higher than that of having those diploma qualifications either from government or private organization. The two main constraints to take anthropometric measurements are the lack of time and lack of resources. There is a significant association between the level of confidence and the type of measurement. The percentage of confidence for weight measurement (93.5%) is significantly higher than the percentage of confidence for taking other measurements. Almost all nurses (98.4%) are not confident in measuring hip circumference. The measure of waist, hip and head circumference are hardly considered as a measure of anthropometric measurements.