Investigation of health professionals’ knowledge about lymphedema after mastectomy
Σχετικά με το περιοδικό
Η «ΝOΣΗΛΕYΤΙΚΗ» είναι το επίσημο επιστημονικό νοσηλευτικό περιοδικό, που εκδίδεται από τον Εθνικό Σύνδεσμο Νοσηλευτών Ελλάδας (Ε.Σ.Ν.Ε.) από το έτος 1962. Η «ΝOΣΗΛΕYΤΙΚΗ» αξιολογήθηκε και εγκρίθηκε για αποδελτίωση και διάθεση από την ελληνική βάση δεδομένων ΙΑΤΡΟΤΕΚ (2002) και τις διεθνείς βάσεις δεδομένων CINAHL (2008), EBSCO (2009) και SCOPUS (2010). Το Περιοδικό εκδίδεται ανά τρίμηνο και απευθύνεται σε νοσηλευτές καλύπτοντας όλες τις νοσηλευτικές ειδικότητες- καθώς και σε κάθε άλλο επαγγελματία υγείας. Σκοπός της έκδοσης του Περιοδικού είναι η συμβολή στη συνεχιζόμενη νοσηλευτική εκπαίδευση, η προαγωγή της νοσηλευτικής έρευνας, και η βελτίωση της βασισμένης σε ενδείξεις νοσηλευτικής πρακτικής στην Ελλάδα και Διεθνώς.
Investigation of health professionals’ knowledge about lymphedema after mastectomy
Introduction: Early detection and treatment are the greatest success in the management of lymphedema. Health professionals play an important role in patient education.
Aim: To investigate the level of knowledge of health professionals working in a tertiary hospital on the prevention and treatment of lymphedema.
Material and Method: Quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive study and correlation study were performed using a suitable measurement tool with a convenience sampling. The study was conducted at a general hospital of Attica, Greece, and the data collection lasted from February 2020 to March 2020. The sample consisted of 74 health profession- als (31.1% doctors, 54.1% nurses, 12.2% physiotherapists) who worked in the surgical and oncology clinics of the hospital. The “Breast Cancer Lymphedema Information and Knowledge Study (BC LINK)” questionnaire was used to assess knowledge which takes a maximum value of 15 and a minimum of -5.
Results: The mean score of the participants’ knowledge about lymphedema was 8.14±2.47. Participants with a master’s / doctoral degree had a significantly higher score compared to participants who were two years of training (p = 0.002) and participants who were university graduates (p=0.015). Physicians had a significantly higher score compared to nurses (p =
0.001). Participants who had 5-10 years of overall experience with oncology patients had a significantly higher score compared to those who had <5 years (p = 0.001). During multiple linear regression, the educational level, specialty, and overall experience of the participants with oncology patients were found to be independently related to the knowledge score. Conclusions: Participants had a moderate level of knowledge about lymph- edema. Educational level, overall experience with oncology patients and specialty are important predictors of knowledge score.