Influence of Postural Change during Venous Blood Collection: A Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) Survey on Patient Preparation Practices of Selected Healthcare Professionals in Bataan, Philippines

Abstract

Postural change before and during venous blood collection can influence the concentration of analytes. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) of medical technologists and nurses in selected hospitals in Bataan, Philippines regarding the effects of postural changes on the concentration of hemoglobin, hematocrit, albumin, and total cholesterol during supine to sitting, supine to standing, and sitting to standing. A cross-sectional survey of four primary hospitals was conducted through an online questionnaire. The quota was set to 170 respondents (137 nurses and 33 medical technologists) and met with a total of 177 respondents. Results showed that majority of the respondents are aware on the effect of postural changes on hemoglobin and hematocrit, while most were unaware of the changes in albumin and total cholesterol. Majority of the medical technologists (61%) acquired perfect scores on the knowledge section. The healthcare professionals had mixed attitudes towards postural changes. For practice, more medical technologists carry venous blood collection compared to nurses. Most medical technologists always position their patients in a sitting position, while most nurses sometimes position their patients from supine to sitting. A significant association was observed between professional status and knowledge (p-value= <0.001), attitude (p-value= 0.001) and practices (p-value= 0.003), as well as between practice and gender (p-value 0.01) and associated hospital (p-value= 0.001). Inadequate KAP on patient positioning practices may contribute to pre-analytical errors. Thus, the standardization of patient posture during phlebotomy should be done to provide reliable results and optimal patient care.