Attitude of nurses of Kerman university of medical sciences toward patient teaching by clinical nurses

    Teaching patients is one of the most essential element in nursing practice. Lack of enthusiasm and belief in a task such as teaching wouldbit difficult, if not impossible. In this research, a summative scale ( likely) questionnaire consisting of 22 items was prepared to assess the attitude of all nurses ( n =108) in Kerman university of medical sciences. Content validity was improved after consulting available experts in the field. The reliability of research instruments were determined by a test- reiest, using spearman correlation coefficient. Internal consistence of the questionnaire was ascertained by cronbach, ( r=0.88). Overall, fifty two of the subjects ( 48.2℅) had a positive attitude ( mean score higher than 3), forty seven (43.5℅) had a negative attitude ( mean score lower then 3) and nine (8.3℅) were indifferent toward educating patients. Although the majority of nurses considered teaching patients an important task, most of them (72℅) regarded this duty as special task to be done by physicians. Among the study variables educational level ( p<0.02) and type of the service ( educational vs clinical) ( p<0.001) had a significant relationships with positive attitude, while gender, marital status and length of career had no correlation. The results from this project underscores the change of attitude and reeducation of nurses to have a role in teaching patients.