Factors Influencing Electrocardiogram Interpretation among Nurses at Public Tertiary Hospitals in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Background: Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly one-third of global deaths. Electrocardiography is a common procedure used in the diagnosis of cardiac disorders. Knowledge of electrocardiogram interpretation is important to nurses as they can play an important role in preventing complications that may occur in patients who have cardiac problems. Little is known about nurses’ knowledge of ECG interpretation. Broad objective: To assess factors influencing ECG interpretation among nurses at public tertiary hospitals in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was done where 371 nurses were recruited using simple random sampling. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires and entered into SPSS version 23 and analysed by using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Analysed data presented in tables and pie charts. Results: Most of the registered nurses (73.9%) were females. The most prevalent age range was between 30 and 34years (74.1%) with low knowledge, while 21.4% nurses with an age ranging from 25-29 years had good knowledge. Nearly half of nurses who attended ECG training were observed to have low knowledge (49.5%). However, only 34.2% of nurses who had no ECG training had moderate knowledge on ECG interpretation. Age was found to be positively associated with ECG interpretation among nurses, where nurses aged between 25-29 years old had moderate knowledge on ECG interpretation (p-value= 0.002). Conclusion: ECG interpretation among nurses can be determined by various factors like ECG training, working experience, working unit, level of knowledge, workload and availability of hospital resources. Training on ECG interpretation is needed among nurses who are working in critical areas to improve their knowledge and practice of ECG. Recommendations: The hospital should provide nurses with regular and standardized on job ECG training. The hospital should provide an environment where nurses have access to learning materials and other resources for self-learning. Nurses should be motivated to learn basic ECG as part of their nursing practice. Similar studies may be considered for the improvement of knowledge and practice on ECG interpretation.