Impact of a Designed Acute Stroke Nursing Management Protocol on Nurse's Knowledge and Practices

ABSTRACT Background: Stroke is a major public health problem worldwide and in Egypt. It is a life-threatening disease that requires early recognition, management and collaboration of all members of the health care team. Critical care nurses play an important role in all phases of care for stroke patients. Aim: the aim of this research was to study the impact of a designed acute stroke nursing management protocol on critical care nurses' knowledge and practices. Hypotheses: H.1. The mean post-test total knowledge scores of critical care nurses who are exposed to the designed nursing management protocol of care will be higher than their mean pre-test scores. H.2. The mean post-test total practices scores of critical care nurses who are exposed to the designed nursing management protocol of care will be higher than their mean pre-test scores. Sample: A convenience sample consisting of (30) nurses were included in this study. Design: A quasiexperimental, single group interrupted time series design was utilized. Tools: two tools were constructed and utilized for data collection; tool (1): Nurses Knowledge Assessment Questionnaire (2): Pre /post observational checklists for critical care nurses' management of patients with acute stroke. Critical care nurses were assessed three times: before implementing the protocol of care, immediately after implementing the protocol of care, and two months after implementing the protocol of care. Results: the current study revealed that most of the studied sample (80%) were female in the middle age groups (X= 30.16, SD =7.71), and the total mean knowledge scores in the second and third assessment times (X= 70.47, SD =6.27, X= 66.67, SD= 8.1) respectively, improved as compared to the first assessment time (X= 24.23, SD= 11.24) with a significant statistical difference between the three assessment times (F= 246.344, P ≤ 0.05).The total mean practices scores in the second assessment and third assessment times (X= 45.90, SD= 5.02, X= 39.87, SD= 4.54) respectively, was higher than the total mean practices scores in the first assessment (X= 22.10, SD= 7.42) with a significant statistical differences between the three assessments (F= 131.913, P ≤ 0.05).A significant statistical differences between the three assessments was found regarding utilization of NIHSS and GCS (F= 420.310, 123.189, P ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: the current study revealed the effectiveness of implementing the protocol of care where nurses' knowledge and practices, improved significantly as compared before implementing the protocol of care. So, the study recommends continuous training and education for nurses to improve their knowledge and practices with availability of Arabic references. Establishing flow chart for receiving, managing and caring of acute stroke patients