Nurses' knowledge and practice regarding implantable cardiac devices in Egypt

Background Patients with implanted cardiac devices constitute a growing segment of contemporary health practice. Nurses have a unique role providing care in hospitals, long-term health care, education and psychological support to these patients. Aim To assess critical care nurses' knowledge and practice regarding implantable cardiac devices. Research design A descriptive exploratory design used the following research questions: (a) What is the nurses' knowledge level regarding implantable cardiac devices? (b) How do nurses manage patients with implantable cardiac devices? Setting At selected critical and coronary care units in Egypt. Sample A convenience sample of 40 nurses with a minimum 1 year of experience was included in the study. Tools for data collection: Tool 1: background data that included gender, age, educational level, area of work and years of experience. Tool 2: questionnaire to assess nurses' knowledge regarding implantable cardiac devices. Tool 3: implantable cardiac devices observational checklist to assess nurses' practice when caring for patients who are being fitted with implantable cardiac devices. Results The current findings revealed that nurses have low knowledge and practice scores and no significant correlations existed between gender, age, years of experience, and their level of knowledge and practice, except negative correlation which existed between practice and years of experience regarding implantable cardiac devices. Conclusion Critical care nurses have inadequate knowledge and practice regarding implantable cardiac devices. Recommendations Replication of this study on a larger probability sample from the different geographical locations of the Arab Republic of Egypt and further research to explore why nurses do not have the knowledge or skills regarding implantable cardiac devices.