Registered nurses' knowledge and interpretation of ECG rhythms: A cross-sectional study.

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Nursing Education
• Clinical Diagnostics

Background:

• Electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring is a key non-invasive tool for diagnosing cardiac conditions.
• Critical care nurses are expected to have advanced ECG interpretation skills compared to general ward nurses.
• However, ECG interpretation proficiency varies with nursing experience and critical care setting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess registered nurses' knowledge of identifying and interpreting select electrocardiographic rhythms.
• To evaluate ECG interpretation skills among nurses in critical care and general ward areas.
• To determine factors influencing ECG interpretation accuracy, including experience and specialization.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 105 registered nurses in a Master's program for critical care specialism.
• Utilized a 20-item multiple-choice questionnaire assessing ECG rhythm and electrolyte abnormality recognition.
• Convenience sampling was employed for participant recruitment.

Main Results:

• Overall, nurses answered only 55% of ECG interpretation questions correctly, indicating poor knowledge.
• Coronary care nurses achieved the highest scores (12/20), significantly outperforming others (p < .001).
• Nurses struggled to identify ECG changes related to hypokalemia and hypomagnesemia (p = .748).
• A critical care background positively correlated with ECG knowledge (r = .614, p < .001).
• Increased nursing experience showed a weak negative correlation with ECG interpretation accuracy (r = -.304, p = .002).

Conclusions:

• Nurses exhibit inadequate knowledge of ECG rhythm identification and interpretation.
• There is a need to revamp educational strategies and training for ECG recognition and morphology.
• Improving critical care nurses' proficiency in detecting subtle ECG abnormalities is essential for patient care.