Abstract:
Introduction & Objectives: Enteral feeding is the
standard of nutritional care for orally confined
cancer patients and nurses play a crucial role. The
aim was to assess the nurses’ knowledge and
practices on enteral nutrition therapy for the cancer
patients on tube feeding at Apeksha Hospital, Sri
Lanka.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was
done using stratified random sampling to select
participants in Apeksha Hospital.Validated selfadministered questionnaire was used to assess
knowledge and participants were individually
observed for practices while administering tube
feeding using a validated observational checklist.
Descriptive statistics and correlation coefficient
were performed using Statistical Package for the
Social Sciences (SPSS) version 15 for analysis.
Significance level was taken as P<0.05.
Results: Sample size was 100. Majority were
unmarried (62%) and age between 25 – 30 years
(78%). Most were females (92%) and with nursing
diploma (91%). Less than half of the participants
had (30%) ≥3 years’ experience as a practice nurse.
Mean knowledge score was 68.23±9.73 SD and 48%
had inadequate level of knowledge in enteral
nutrition therapy. Mean practice score was
24.17±3.14 SD and 55% were competent in enteral
feeding practice. A slightly positive correlation was
found between the total knowledge scores and the
total practice scores of the participants (r=0.101)
which was not statistically significant (P=0.318). A
slightly negative correlation (r= -0.007) was found
between the total practice scores and the years of
experience as a nurse.
Conclusion: Knowledge of the nurses on enteral
nutrition therapy and experience had a very little
impact on their practices on enteral feeding at
Apeksha Hospital.
