Nurses’ Practices of Input and Output Monitoring of Patients on Intravenous Fluid Therapy within Fako Division

Citation: Eta VEA., Akong E.R, Bassah N., Amahnui G, "Nurses’ Practices of Input and Output Monitoring of Patients on Intravenous Fluid Therapy within Fako Division", Universal Library of Clinical Nursing, Volume 01, Issue 01.

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Background: Alternative routes of fluid administration such as intravenous access can deliver fluids directly to the vascular system for hospitalised patients who might have a reason for not tolerating oral intake. Too much or too little fluid can have a negative impact on patient outcomes; hence, careful titration of fluid administered is required. Previous studies have shown that majority of fluid balance records were incorrectly calculated or poorly documented. Aim: To investigate nurses’ practices of input/output monitoring of patients on intravenous fluid (IVF) therapy in the medical and surgical wards in hospitals within Fako Division, Cameroon. Methods: This study employed a retrospective and cross sectional design, data was collected using a structured questionnaire to assess nurses’ knowledge of fluid input/output monitoring from May to June 2021. In addition, a checklist was used to conduct an audit of 671 patients’ files and 76 nurses took part in the study. Data was analysed with the aid of SPSS 25. A multi-linear regression analysis was done for knowledge and practices using demographic variables and factors affecting monitoring of patients to test relationships between categorical variables. All statistics were set at 95% confidence interval with a 5% margin of error. Results were presented using frequency distribution, mean and standard deviation to describe different characteristics. Results: 77.63% nurses’ could identify methods of assessing patients on IVF therapy. However, they lacked knowledge on laboratory indications of fluid overload (5.26%), fluid loss (1.32), symptoms of fluid gain (3.9%) and fluid depletion (2.26). Their overall practice was 128(19.08%). Factors affecting monitoring of patients on intravenous fluid therapy were mainly workload 55(72.4%) and lack of measuring equipment 46(60.5%). Conclusion: Nurses’ in the medical and surgical wards in Fako Division lacked knowledge in certain areas of patients’ assessment about input/output monitoring of patients on IVF therapy and their practices were generally unsatisfactory. Qualification had a significant impact on nurses’ practices (P<0.05).

Keywords: Nurses’ Knowledge, Nurses’ Practices, Fluid Input/Output Monitoring, IV Fluids Monitoring, Intake/Output Chart.