Post-abortion care (PAC) awareness among the nurses of Khartoum State Governmental hospitals- Sudan

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: This study investigated the quality of knowledge and attitude of post abortion care (PAC) among nurses in governmental hospitals in Khartoum State, Sudan. It was a descriptive cross-sectional hospital-based study. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted between the 2nd of August and 30th of November 2012. It enrolled 43 certified nurses working in departments of gynecology in four governmental hospitals in Khartoum State. Data concerning their knowledge and skill in post abortion care were collected by structured questionnaires through direct interview. Results: The participants were comprised of auxiliary nurses (44.2%), technical nurses (35.8%) and professional nurses (7.5%). Most of the nurses were either BSc or Diploma holders; although most of them had long experience, but 90.7 % were not specifically trained. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS v 13.0. Conclusion: Most of the participants were sufficiently aware about clinical history, making pre-operative preparations. However, most of them were poorly aware about physical assessment, proper infection prevention, and pain management. The general awareness of the participants was averagely poor. An important point was that the nurses were overwhelmed with the work.