ISSN: 2471-9846

Journal of Community & Public Health Nursing
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  • Research Article   
  • J Comm Pub Health Nursing,
  • DOI: 10.4172/2471-9846.1000222

Management and Care of Malnourished Children: Gaps in their Knowledge Levels of Final-Year Community Health Nursing Trainees

Nsiah-Asamoah C1*, Ayensu J2 and Owusu K3
1Department of Science Education, Health Sciences Education Unit, University of Cape Coast, Ghana
2Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Cape Coast, Ghana
3Nsawam Adoagyiri Municipal Health Directorate, Eastern Region, Ghana
*Corresponding Author : Nsiah-Asamoah C, Department of Science Education, Health Sciences Education Unit, University of Cape Coast, Ghana, Email: cbuxton@ucc.edu.gh

Received Date: Jun 18, 2018 / Accepted Date: Nov 15, 2018 / Published Date: Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

Objective: Community Health Nurses are usually the first to identify malnourished children in the community and refer them to the hospital. Therefore, they should have adequate knowledge about malnutrition in children and be conversant applying WHO’s protocol for managing malnutrition. Hence, the aim of this study was to examine the knowledge levels of final-year community health nursing trainees regarding the causes, signs and symptoms, management and prevention of malnutrition in children.
Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study in which 200 final-year trainees completed a self- administered questionnaire.
Results: Generally, trainees’ knowledge about the causes and prevention of malnutrition in children was good. However, their knowledge levels on the management of malnutrition in children were poor. Majority (91%) of the respondents did not know that the first step during the stabilization phase is to prevent hypoglycemia in malnourished children. Again, majority (69%) of the respondents did not know that iron should not be given to malnourished children during the stabilization phase. Most (66.0%) of the respondents did not know that children with severe acute malnutrition should be assessed for appetite, medical complications and oedema.
Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that there are gaps in nursing students’ nutritional knowledge in the management of malnutrition in children. Findings from this study demonstrate the need to update and strengthen the content of the nutrition curriculum by including specific pediatric nutrition courses or topics in the training of community health nurses.

Keywords: Children; Malnutrition management; Knowledge; Nursing trainees

Citation: Nsiah-Asamoah C, Ayensu J, Owusu K (2018) Management and Care of Malnourished Children: Gaps in their Knowledge Levels of Final-Year Community Health Nursing Trainees. J Comm Pub Health Nursing 4: 222. Doi: 10.4172/2471-9846.1000222

Copyright: © 2018 Nsiah-Asamoah C, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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