Assessment of Nutritional Knowledge of Nurses Regarding Diet in Some Diseases

Nutrition is involved in taking in and utilization of food substances by which growth, repair and maintenance of the body are accomplished. The nurse plays a key role in patient care. She is often the closest professional to the patient, spending most of the time with him. The present study was conducted to assess the existing knowledge of nurses on nutrition along with some background characteristics. One hundred and twenty nurses from three government hospitals and three private hospitals of three different districts were administered a questionnaire comprising of questions related to nutrition.Findings revealed that half of the total respondents (50 %) belonged to younger age group (20- 30 years), 49.2 per cent had diploma in nursing and 49.1 per cent had 1-5 years of professional experience. Majority (91 %) of the respondents had medium level of mass media exposure. Around 61.7 per cent had medium level of nutritional knowledge. There was a need for increasing the nutritional knowledge of nurses, so proper training on nutrition education should be conducted frequently.