Determinants of the Utilisation of Standardised Nursing Language among the Midwives of Tertiary Hospitals in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Ability to clearly define and specifically delineate professional nursing role and its unique contribution to patient care using standard terminologies has been a challenge because of evolving professional development. The use of Standardised Nursing Language (SNL) helps nurse midwives understand patients needs with precision, accuracy and unified intra-professional communication for effective practice. This study assessed the level of utilisation of SNL, assessed the knowledge level of nurse midwives, determined the influence of organisational support of the hospital management, examine the attitude of nurse midwives and ascertain the utilisation of SNL among midwives in selected hospitals in Ekiti State. A descriptive research design was adopted and total enumeration of 170 participants from the three tertiary hospitals in Ekiti State constituted the sample size. A self-structured questionnaire comprising of 52 items under 5 sections was used for the data collection. Face and content validity were ensured and the reliability of the instrument was established through Cronbach alpha and a reliability coefficient index of 0.85 was obtained. Data obtained were analysed using Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. Descriptive statistics of percentages, mean and standard deviations were used to provide answers to the three research questions. Inferential statistics of multiple regression was used to test hypotheses 1, 4& 5 and one-way ANOVA was used for hypotheses 2& 3 at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of this study revealed the mean age of 32, with 32 (19.6 %) of the participants within the age 30-34years; while 55 (33.7 %) were 40- 49 years. Eighty-one (49 %) of the participants had Bachelor of Nursing Science degree, 14 (8.6 %) had MSc, 2 (1.2 %) had PhD. The study also revealed that mean scores of knowledge level in the three hospitals were 14.58 2.80, 12.944.17 and 14.123.87 respectively, mean values on attitudes were 25.474.70, 24.824.49 and 27.733.62. Nurse midwives attitude (p = 0.60), knowledge (p = 0.32) and their demographic variables (p = 0.39) did not significantly determine utilisation of SNL. Organisational support (p= 0.00) significantly determined utilisation of SNL and there was no significant difference in the knowledge level of the midwives in the three hospitals (p = 0.66). In conclusion, nurse midwives knowledge of SNL was below average, a good percentage utilise SNL, knowledge, attitude and demographic variables did not significantly determine utilisation of SNL. It was suggested that the knowledge level of nurse midwives on SNL should be enhanced through comprehensive educational program and follow-up education, in- service training, seminars, Nursing Audit supervision, provision of up-to-date SNL materials to motivate and encourage appropriate utilisation of SNL.