Investigating Nurses' Knowledge about Preeclamptic Patients' Care in a Tertiary Care Centre in Romania

The present study aimed to investigate nurses' knowledge about the care provided to pre-eclamptic patients in a tertiary care centre in Romania. A cross sectional study. This study was conducted in Polizu Clinical Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Bucharest, Romania, from early January 2019 to the end of February 2019. Sixty five nurses working at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department. Data were collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire and they were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 20 and Microsoft Office Excel/Word 2013. Two tools were used for data collection. Tool I: Assessment sheet to collect data regarding nurses' general characteristics; and Tool II: A questionnaire to evaluate nurses' knowledge and practices regarding the management of pre-eclampsia/eclampsia. About 73.8% of nurses confirmed that they participated in educational programs in the obstetrics field; 10.8% of them confirmed that they participated in training programs for pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, 47.7% gave the right answer when they were asked to correctly identify the definition of eclampsia, 78.5% answered correctly to the proper identification of proteinuria in pregnancy definition, only 9.2% gave the right answer when asked to properly identify chronic hypertension, 40% chose the right answer when asked to correctly identify gestation ages for antenatal use of corticosteroids to improve neonatal result, and 70.8% answered correctly to the proper identification of the best anticonvulsant for severe pre-eclampsia/ eclampsia. Continuous professional development is critical in nurses' work in both theory and clinical practice. Unfortunately, this study identified wide gaps in the knowledge of nurses about pre-eclampsia/ eclampsia, including their assessment, diagnosis and management. This is a major concern as globally, severe pre-eclampsia and eclampsia result in 70 000 maternal deaths annually. Improving nurse's awareness regarding nursing knowledge and practices through educational programs aimed to encourage them to use best evidence-based practices in their daily practice and reducing maternal and child mortality by pre-eclampsia/eclampsia in Romania.