Assessment of knowledge of chronic kidney disease among non-nephrology nurses in Akure, South-West Nigeria.

Health workers require adequate knowledge of chronic kidney disease (CKD) to be able to play their role in reducing the burden of CKD. Most previous studies focused on assessing knowledge of doctors on CKD; however, nurses are also important in primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of CKD. This study assessed the knowledge of non-nephrology nurses on CKD with the aim of identifying areas of knowledge gaps which will be targets for future educational programs. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out among nurses in Akure, Southwest Nigeria during their mandatory continuing professional development program required for practicing license renewal. Knowledge of CKD was assessed using self-administered pretested questionnaires. P <0.05 was taken as significant. One-hundred nurses participated in the study with a male:female ratio of 1:3.7. The mean duration of their nursing experience was 14.5 ± 9.1 years. Only 15% had nephrology posting during their training. Six (6%) of the respondents had good knowledge of CKD, 55 (55%) had fair knowledge, and 37 (37%) had poor knowledge. Only 5% was aware of renal care policy in Nigeria. Junior and intermediate cadre nurses had better knowledge of CKD than senior cadre nurses (P = 0.004). Nurses who had nephrology posting during their training had significantly higher mean knowledge score than others (14.38 ± 2.25 vs. 12.93 ± 3.10, P = 0.036). There were significant deficiencies in the knowledge of CKD among non-nephrology nurses who participated in the study. Junior and intermediate cadre nurses and those who had nephrology postings had better knowledge of CKD.

Assessment of iron status in predialysis chronic kidney disease patients in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital.

Anemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with poor overall outcome if not promptly managed with erythropoietin when indicated. This study assessed iron status and associated factors in predialysis CKD patients in Southern Nigeria. This was a cross-sectional study that assessed and compared iron status in 100 predialysis CKD patients and 90 healthy controls. Mean age of the CKD patients was 49.39 ± 14.84 years. Iron deficiency was present in 14% of CKD patients compared to 3% of the controls (P = 0.021). Among CKD patients with ID, 11 (85.7%) had functional iron deficiency while three (14.3%) had absolute iron deficiency. Serum ferritin was significantly higher in the predialysis CKD patients (P = 0.001). There was no significant gender difference in iron indices among the CKD patients. Functional iron deficiency was present in 11 (11%) of the CKD patients compared to none among the control group (P = 0.003). There was no significant association between iron deficiency and age, gender, etiology, and stage of CKD. Functional iron deficiency was the predominant form of iron deficiency in our predialysis CKD patients, and there was no significant association with age, gender, stage, or etiology of CKD.