Assessment of intensive care unit nurses' knowledge of electrical safety: nursing implications

Extended monitoring and treatment modalities for the critically ill patient have contributed significantly to nursing capability, while concurrently imposing increased nursing responsibility. Nurses, as the primary uses of health care technology, need a comprehensive understanding of bioinstrumentation to provide safe, high level nursing care. To date, no empirical demonstration of nurse's knowledge of electrical safety is found in the literature. The purpose of this investigation was to document the level of electrical safety knowledge of a representative sample of Salt Lake City Intensive Care Unit nurses. A research designed questionnaire was utilized to define the sample demographics, to test the level of electrical safety knowledge and to elicit the relationship of pertinent background variables with the percentage of correct answers in the electrical safety questionnaire. Statistically, significant relationships were found between: age with the percentage of correct answers in the electrical safety questionnaire, sex with percentage of correct responses in the electrical safety questionnaire and number of years as a Registered Nurse with percentage of accurate answers in the electrical safety questionnaire. Descriptive statistical evaluation revealed that 63% of the sample answered less than 70% of the electrical safety questionnaire accurately. This information led to the conclusion that this sample demonstrated an inadequate nursing knowledge that precludes the nurse's ability to recognize electrical hazards as actual electrical accidents.