Factors influencing nurses’ attitude toward patients requiring emergency care in the Cape Coast metropolitan health facilities

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the factors influencing nurses’ attitude toward patients requiring emergency care in Cape Coast metropolitan health facilities. The objectives of the study were to determine nurses’ attitude towards caring for patients requiring emergency care, to determine the degree of work satisfaction experienced by these nurses and how such attitude differs by patient characteristics, nurse characteristics, job satisfaction and institutional factors. One hundred and fifty nurses working in the emergency units of hospitals in the Cape Coast Metropolis participated. With the help of four student nurses the questionnaire was administered to all the nurses stationed at the emergency departments of hospitals in the Cape Coast Metropolis. Attitude to care was significantly influenced by age (0.41), sex (0.031) rank (0.01) and working experience (0.39). Nurses felt more comfortable dealing with victims of abuse and more objective in their interventions for those families. Results from the study was contrary to previous researchers, in-service education have no influence on attitude. This is because the f-statistic (F [2, 147] = 3.10) with a highly significant value of 0.048 is less than 0.05 level of significant in the analysis of correspondent’s take on the influence of in-service education on nursing care. The deduction is that general life satisfaction greatly influences the attitude of nurses towards patients with emergency needs. Negative attitudes towards patient care persist and are influenced by personal characteristics of nurses and institutional factors.