Knowledge Levels Of The Operating Room Nurses Related To Prevention Of Surgical Site Infections

DOI:10.17681/hsp.458122 Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the knowledge levels of operating room nurses on evidence based practices to prevent surgical site infections. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was carried out between 01.04.2018 and 15.05.2018 with nurses working in the operating theater unit of state and university hospitals in Zonguldak province. The questionnaire created by the researcher in the light of the literature was consisted of 44 questions, 11 questions including sociodemographic data and 33 questions, which can get minimum 0 point and maximum 33 points, questioning about evidence-based practices to prevent surgical site infections. The item reliability analysis of the questionnaire was calculated to be 0,70 with Cronbach alpha. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics as well as Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: According to the data obtained from the study, the information score means of the nurses’ knowledge about the evidence –based practices to prevent surgical site infections was found to be 22,05±3,53 (min:10, max:32). It was determined that the average age of the nurses participating in the study was 38,29±9,00 and the majority of the nurses had a bachelor's degree with 63,2%. It was reported that 75,4% of the nurses worked in the operating room unit for 6 or more years and 77,2% of nurses worked as scrub and circulating nurses. It was reported that all nurses were trained on surgical site infections and that in-service training constituted 66,7% of the education. 64,9% of the nurses think that they are working with evidence-based practices in the hospital. No statistically significant difference was found between the demographical characteristics and the nurses' information score means. Conclusion: The study showed that operating room nurses had moderate level knowledge about the evidence-based practices for prevention of surgical site infections