Evaluating a Planned Teaching Programme's Impact on Anaphylactic Shock Knowledge Among Second-Year GNM Students at Selected Nursing Schools, Kota, (Rajasthan)

Abstract

Background: Anaphylaxis, and its most severe form, anaphylactic shock, ranks among the most dramatic, fast-moving, and potentially fatal emergencies a nurse may encounter. The World Allergy Organization defines it as a serious, life-threatening generalized or systemic hypersensitivity reaction, marked by a sudden cascade of symptoms capable of causing circulatory collapse, respiratory failure, and death within minutes of exposure to the triggering antigen.

Methodology: A quantitative evaluative design was used. The investigator carried out the main study between 04/07/2026 and 03/08/2026 at selected nursing schools in Kota, Rajasthan, following a pre-test–post-test (experimental) design. The sample comprised 70 second-year GNM students at these schools.

Results: Before the teaching programme, students' knowledge was inadequate on average (mean 12.28 ± 2.174); afterward, it reached an adequate level (mean 24.15 ± 1.699). Fifty-three students (75.71%) scored between 24 and 30 on the post-test, whereas no one had scored above 17 before the intervention.

Conclusion: Pre-test scores averaged highest in the signs-and-symptoms domain (49.71%) and lowest in pathophysiology (33.14%); post-test scores peaked in introduction and definition (92.14%) and were lowest for complications and prevention (61.43%). Age, family type, prior attendance at a seminar or workshop on anaphylactic shock, and prior knowledge (with its source, where relevant) were all significantly associated with pre-test knowledge (p < 0.05), supporting the research hypothesis, while gender and religion showed no such association (p > 0.05), supporting the null hypothesis for those variables.