Assessment of nursing staffs' knowledge concerning patient with vascular access in dialysis center at al Zehra Teaching Hospital in Iraq

Background: Hemodialysis (HD) is widely acknowledged as a feasible and required alternative. Safe and maintainable vascular access (VA) is factually a lifeline for most ESRD patients (Japanese Society for Clinical Renal Transplantation, 2017). Objective: to assess nurses' knowledge concerning patients with vascular access in Dialysis. Methods: a descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at Al-Zahra Hospital from 1th November 2022 to 10 th Febraury 2022. Data collected using the instrument contains two parts: the first part is concerned with the nurse's demographic data; the second part is composed of (63) items related to the nurse's knowledge through face-to-face questioning. A non- probability (purposive) sample of 100 nurses working at Al-Zahra Hospital / Kidney Dialysis Center in Wasit Governorate of Iraq. The evaluation was made with a percentage analysis. Results: It was observed that the majority of the participants with a mean age of 28±5.5, 60% of them are men, 52% are single, 60% are college graduates or above, and 52% did not receive a training session. As for those who received training, they all received training inside Iraq. As for the number of years of experience in the hospital, 84% of them were between 1-5 years, while the number of years of experience in the hemodialysis unit was 62% of them 1-5 years. Conclusion: The study concluded that the majority of participants (%56) have a moderate level of knowledge concerning Patients with Vascular Access for dialysis patients. There was a significant relationship between age, sharing training sessions, and Nurses' knowledge about vascular access for dialysis patients. Recommendations: The study recommended engaging hemodialysis unit nurses in special training courses to improve knowledge concerning vascular access for dialysis patients.