Nurses' knowledge to identify early acute kidney injury

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the knowledgeof nurses on early identification of acute kidney injury (AKI) in intensive care, emergency and hospitalization units. METHOD A prospective multi-center study was conducted with 216 nurses, using a questionnaire with 10 questions related to AKI prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. RESULTS 57.2% of nurses were unable to identify AKI clinical manifestations, 54.6% did not have knowledge of AKI incidence in patients admitted to the ICU, 87.0% of the nurses did not know how to answer as regards the AKI mortality rate in patients admitted to the ICU, 67.1% answered incorrectly that slight increases in serum creatinine do not have an impact on mortality, 66.8% answered incorrectly to the question on AKI prevention measures, 60.4% answered correctly that loop diuretics for preventing AKI is not recommended, 77.6% answered correctly that AKI does not characterize the need for hemodialysis, and 92.5% said they had no knowledge of the Acute Kidney Injury Networkclassification. CONCLUSION Nurses do not have enough knowledge to identify early AKI, demonstrating the importance of qualification programs in this field of knowledge.