The Effect of Radiation on Nurses Working in Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography.

The ionizing radiation used during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) can have harmful effects on patients and staff. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of radiation on nurses working in an ERCP unit. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was completed between June and August 2022 with the voluntary participation of 114 ERCP nurses. The data were collected using WhatsApp messenger through a Google Form. It was determined that, of the nurses, 68.4% received training on radiation safety, all of them took protective measures, 98.2% had knowledge about the effects of radiation, and 93.9% used dosimeters. Nurses stated that they mostly experienced fatigue (94.7%), loss of energy (68.4%), headache (39.3%), hair loss (35.1%), weakness (18%), leg and joint pain (15.1%), thyroid diseases (12.3%), skin discoloration (7.9%), and anemia (7.9%) as the possible effects of radiation during the period they worked in ERCP. The study found that 3.5% of the nurses were diagnosed with cancer while working in the endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography unit. Additionally, ERCP nurses experienced the negative effects of radiation at different rates, but there was no significant relationship between demographic and health characteristics and experiencing the negative effects of radiation.

Validity and reliability of the Perceived Perioperative Competence Scale-Revised.

Assessment tools other than those currently available are needed to assess the technical and non-technical competencies of operating room nurses. In this study, a methodological design was applied to perform a Turkish adaptation of the Perceived Perioperative Competence Scale-Revised and to conduct a psychometric analysis of the scale for its use in Turkish society. The study was conducted in two public medical faculty hospitals and three training and research hospitals located in Istanbul. The sample for the study consisted of 206 operating room nurses working in these five hospitals. Following the confirmation of the language and content validities of the scale, test-retest and internal consistency analyses were performed, and the scale's construct validity was examined. The 40 items and six subscales on the original scale were preserved in the Turkish version. Goodness-of-fit indices of the model indicated that a six factor construct was good and supported at an acceptable level. The scale, intended for use by nurse managers to evaluate the competencies of operating room nurses, can be applied to evaluate the professional development and performance of nurses and to identify their training needs and paths of clinical career advancement.

[The Opinions and Practices of Nursing Students About Preoperative Patient Safety]. / Hemsirelik Ögrencilerinin Ameliyat Öncesi Hasta Güvenligine Iliskin Görüsleri ve Uygulamalari.

AIM: This study was conducted to examine the opinions and practices of sophomore nursing students about preoperative patient safety. METHOD: This descriptive study was conducted from November 2016 to April 2017 by attendance of 219 sophomore nursing students who are practicing in the surgery departments of two university hospitals and meet the criteria of the study. For collection of data, the data collection form was used, which has been developed by the researchers in line with the literature and includes two parts. The necessary institutions and ethics committee permits were obtained before starting the research. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test were used for data analysis. RESULTS: It was found out that the average age of the attending students was 20.29±1.65 (years) and 50.2% of them have chosen the profession because of high employment opportunity. It was found that, of the students, 33.8% have taken lesson for patient safety and 26.9% have participated in training events such as seminars, courses, etc. about patient safety. When the situation of carrying out the preoperative patient safety practices by them, it was found that the first three preoperative practices carried out by the students attended the study were measurement of vital signs, checking patient identification and verification of the operation site respectively. CONCLUSION: In this study, it was found out that the majority of students did not participate in any training program for preoperative patient safety; however, they performed some applications for patient safety. In line with these results, it can be suggested to increase the knowledge of preoperative patient safety practices by organizing training activities for patient safety and by ensuring the participation of students in these activities and comparing the information and application levels of the larger sample groups with all classes.

[Rational Drug Usage Status of Nursing Students]. / Hemsirelik Ögrencilerinin Akilci Ilaç Kullanma Durumlari.

AIM: This study was conducted to determine nursing students' rational use of medicines. METHOD: The population of this descriptive study was composed of 1177 students who were studying at a faculty of nursing in Istanbul. The study sample, on the other hand, consisted of 303 students who were selected from the population by the "stratified random sampling" method, a probabilistic sampling method. The sample size was calculated using the Minitab software. Data were collected with data collection form between February and March 2016. In data analysis, percentage, median, Pearson Chi-square and Fisher's Exact test was used. RESULTS: It was found that the average age of the participating nursing students was 20.25±1.71, 85.5% of the participants were female, 98.7% were single, 66.3% graduated from Anatolian High School and 29.4% of them were in their third year of study. Also, 11.6% of the participants used medicines continuously, 16.2% used medicines frequently, the most frequent reason for using medicines (69%) was pain, 93.7% read the prospectus of the medicines they used, 70.6% took their medicines on time, 86.8% were careful about using their medicines before or after meals, 78.5% did not change doses of medicines themselves, 63% stopped using medicines when symptoms of disease were over, 62% did not always take medicines with prescription, and 97.3% used pain relievers most without a prescription. In addition, there were significant differences between the participants' gender and reading the prospectus before using medicines, between having a chronic disease and continuous and frequent use of medicines, and between alcohol consumption and frequent use of medicines (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The nursing students in our study were found to have inadequacies in some issues related to rational use of medicines (e.g. taking medicines with a prescription, using medicines on time and not changing medicine doses without physician's suggestions). In this context, it is advisable to develop guidance and counseling programs for the development of rational drug use behaviors of nursing students and to include this subject in detail in nursing undergraduate education course curricula.