Nurses’ knowledge of hypertension care and associated factors in the Northern Region of Ghana

Abstract

Background: Hypertension is the main risk factor for cardiovascular-related morbidities and mortalities. Nurses play a pivotal role in hypertension care, encompassing screening, detection, management, patient education and self-management counselling.
Aim: This study assessed nurses’ knowledge of hypertension care and associated factors in the Northern Region of Ghana.
Setting: Tamale Metropolis of the Northern Region of Ghana.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among nurses. Using a census approach, 410 eligible nurses working in hypertension care across the study hospitals were invited to participate. Of these, 266 consented and completed a self-reported validated questionnaire. The IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences programme version 30 was used to process the data and perform descriptive and inferential statistics.
Results: The mean hypertension care knowledge score was 51.47% ± 11.76%. About 4% had good knowledge, 57.1% average knowledge, and 38.7% had poor knowledge. While nurses demonstrated good knowledge of accurate blood pressure measurement (82.4%), their knowledge of hypertension diagnosis (35.1%) and management (48.8%) was poor. The following were significantly associated with overall knowledge of hypertension care: hospital of practice (p = 0.021), age (p = 0.007), nursing category (p = 0.002), qualification (p = 0.001), years of practice in the present unit (p = 0.021) and hypertension in-service training (p = 0.027).
Conclusion: This study revealed significant gaps in nurses’ knowledge of hypertension care and highlighted the need for continuous professional development to bridge knowledge gaps and sustain clinical competence.
Contribution: The study provided evidence on nurses’ knowledge of hypertension care in Ghana, which can inform the development of tailored interventions to improve management and patient outcomes.