Nurse-initiated defibrillation : do nurses who can't defibrillate want this responsibility?

Within hospitals nurse-initiated defibrillation improves survival following cardiac arrest. Accordingly hospitals in Australia are changing their policies to permit nurses to initiate defibrillation. However prior to initiating protocols that ask nurses take on additional roles nurses inherent beliefs should be explored to develop a conceptual framework to guide education in relation to nurse-initiated defibrillation programs. This study examined the defibrillation beliefs of rural registered nurses who are currently not permitted to initiate defibrillation. Specifically, do nurses who want the responsibility of defibrillation hold more positive beliefs about nurse-initiated defibrillation than nurses who do not want this responsibility? A proportional stratified sample of nurses not permitted to defibrillate (N=225) were drawn from 51 rural acute care hospitals across Queensland. The majority (n=115, 52%) of participants did not want the responsibility with thirty-eight percent (n=84) wanting the responsibility. Twenty-three nurses (10%) were undecided as to whether they wanted the role and were excluded from the analysis. A one-way between-groups MANOVA showed there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups on the combined dependent belief variables (9,183)=23.80, p<0.001. When the results were considered separately, nurses who wanted the responsibility reported more positive beliefs about learning rhythms, personal and patient safety, peer support and improving patient survival. If there is to be an acceptance of defibrillation as an essential part of all nurses’ roles these beliefs should be explored and integrated into education programs as inappropriate beliefs about defibrillation may impede implementation and skills development.