Relationship of demographic characteristics of nurses with knowledge about autonomic dysreflexi in spinal cord injures

Autonomic Dysreflexia (AD) is a dangerous syndrome in spinal cord injured veterans who suffer from spinal cord injury (SCI) at or above the sixth thoracic vertebra and results in irrecoverable complications. This study was performed to evaluate the nurses’ knowledge level about Ad among SCI veterans, and its correlation with the demographic characteristics of nurses This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 94 male and nurses who were selected by cluster random sampling. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire consisting of demographic and AD related knowledge questions which its validity was confirmed by 15 faculty members and its reliability was evaluated to be good after doing test-re-test. The answers were classified based on 3-choice Likert scale in three levels of good, moderate and weak. Data was analyzed by SPSS 11. The age mean of studied cases was 35.62 and the bachelors’ degree had the most frequency (91.5%). The mean work experience was 10.27 years. The knowledge level of nurses in 22.3% of cases was in moderate level and was weak in 77.7% of cases. the knowledge level of nurses about autonomic dysreflexia and its complications is weak based on the obtained results.