Clinical Nurses' Knowledge and Educational Needs about Dizziness

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper was to investigate clinical nurses' knowledge and educational needs about dizziness. One of the most frequent complaints among adult persons visiting the hospital is experiencing dizziness. Clinical nurses in the hospital play a crucial role in managing such patients.METHODS: Our paper is a cross-sectional survey using structured instruments to evaluate clinical nurses' knowledge and educational needs about dizziness. This study was conducted January through February 2018. Subjects were 246 clinical nurses in an outpatient, intensive care, internal medicine unit and emergency department at university hospital. Data were analyzed using SPSS statistics 21.RESULTS: The average ofdizziness knowledge score was 57.66±23.75 (range 0-100) and educational need was 3.55±.47(range 0-5). There were significant differences in dizziness knowledge according to age (p < .001), working unit (p < .001), career duration (p < .001), change experience of unit (p < .001), dizziness patient care experience and participation in dizziness education (p < .001). There was positive correlation between knowledge of dizziness and the need for dizziness education (r=.26 p < .001).CONCLUSION: Results of this paper indicate that a dizziness education program is urgently needed for clinical nurses. Such a program should be seriously considered based on our results.