Knowledge, attitude, and practice of ambulance nurses in prehospital care in Malang, Indonesia

Background: Nurses are responsible for staffing ambulances in Indonesia. However, those nurses may have limited knowledge and skills in prehospital care because the Indonesian nursing curriculum focuses mostly on in-hospital care. This study investigated the perceived knowledge, attitude, and practice of ambulance nurses in prehospital care in Malang, Indonesia. Method: This was a cross-sectional study consisting of a paper-based survey involving 465 participants from 45 health care services in Malang, Indonesia. Results: Participants’ attitude score for prehospital care was the highest and knowledge of prehospital care was the lowest score. This study revealed that knowledge (p = 0.022), attitude (p = 0.012), and practice scores (p = 0.026) were significantly different based on the training experience. The education level of participants contributed significantly to the difference in attitude (p = 0.001) and practice scores (p = 0.034). Participants’ experience had a significant contribution to the difference in attitude score (p = 0.002). The knowledge (p = 0.001) and practice (p = 0.002) for prehospital care of hospital-based ambulance nurses were significantly higher than puskesmas-based ambulance nurses. Conclusions: This study revealed that Indonesian ambulance nurses lacked prehospital care knowledge and skills. The findings from this study provide information to establish a national regulation covering human resources for prehospital care in Indonesia both for educational and clinical levels.