Nurses' knowledge of anticoagulation therapy for atrial fibrillation patients: Effectiveness of an educational course

Background: Oral anticoagulation is the most common method to decrease the risk of stroke in people with atrial fibrillation. Purpose: To assess the knowledge of Jordanian nurses about anticoagulation therapy, the effectiveness of educational courses in increasing their knowledge, and the factors that affect nurses' changing knowledge following completion of an educational course. Method: A pre/posttest quasi-experimental design was used. A total of 123 nurses participated in the study, identified by convenience sampling and recruited from five governmental hospitals in Jordan. To assess changes in knowledge between pre-and posttest, a questionnaire based on European cardiovascular nurses' knowledge of anticoagulation therapy was used. An educational course was given to improve participants' knowledge of anticoagulation therapy. The participants' knowledge was assessed before and after the educational course. For data analysis, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 23 was used. Results: Nurses' knowledge of anticoagulants was poor; however, a significant improvement was achieved following the educational course (M?=?25.5, SD?=?3.41), as compared to before conducting it (M?=?12.2, SD?=?5.3, t?=?42.54, p?