Assessment of Nurses’ Knowledge Regarding Care for Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Abstract

Background: Gallstone disease is a common gastrointestinal disorder in the world whose laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the gold standard in surgical management. The theoretical expertise of nursing personnel in dealing with perioperative needs is critical in the success of this minimally invasive procedure.

Objectives: The main purpose of this study was both to assess the theoretical understanding of nursing professionals regarding the management of patients who are undergoing laparoscopic surgery to remove their gallbladder and to determine the distribution of the knowledge levels among the surgical settings.

Methodology: The descriptive cross-sectional type of design was adopted, with a targeted sample of 60 nurses working in different surgical and recovery units. Data collection was done using a Structured Knowledge Interview Schedule that was specifically created to measure cognitive domains in preoperative and postoperative care. Mean scores (MS), frequencies and percentages were used to categorize the information levels of the participants based on statistical analysis.

Results: The analysis revealed that a huge percentage (93.3) of the participants displayed a fair level (1.75) of overall knowledge. Higher academic level and more clinical experience were linked to a higher score, but the overall cognitive baseline was at a moderate level throughout the study population.

Conclusions: The results indicate that over fifty percent of the nursing personnel have the intermediary range of theoretical consciousness. This average performance shows that more needs to be done to sustain the evidence-based base of knowledge to achieve safer transitions of patients throughout the surgery process.