Nurses' Beliefs About Caring for Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury.
Tolu O Oyesanya, Mitchell A Thomas, Roger L Brown and 1 others
PMID 26955844WHAT IT FOUND
Nurses surveyed at one trauma center held widespread misconceptions about traumatic brain injury, including believing it affects men and women equally.
Most nurses preferred asking colleagues for information over formal training, raising concerns about the accuracy of peer-to-peer education.
Key findings
01Nurses in all perceived knowledge groups incorrectly believed that traumatic brain injury is equally common in males and females.
02Asking a colleague was the most favored method for learning about patient care, preferred by the majority of nurses regardless of their self-reported knowledge level.
03Most nurses disagreed that knowledge of moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury was important to their current nursing practice, despite agreeing that specialized training is needed.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The data were collected from a single hospital, so the findings may not represent nurses in other settings. The response rate was 20.3%, which may introduce selection bias if nurses with different levels of interest or knowledge were more likely to respond. The study measured perceived knowledge and beliefs, not actual clinical knowledge or patient outcomes. The survey items were developed by the authors and psychometric properties for some subscales were not reported in this manuscript. Most respondents worked in inpatient units, but the study did not control for the frequency of TBI patient contact, which could influence beliefs.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by non-U.S. government and NIH extramural research funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume these findings apply to all nurses or that they reflect actual clinical competence. The study surveyed a small fraction of nurses at one hospital and measured their self-reported beliefs and learning preferences, not their ability to treat patients.