Knowledge Levels of Nursing Students for Surgical Drain Follow up and Care

Objective: This study was carried out in order to determine the level of knowledge about nursing department students' follow-up and care of the drains. Method: This identificatory and cross-sectional study was carried out with 233 students (second, third and fourth grade students) who took Surgical Nursing course at departmant of Nursing science during spring term in 2016-2017 academic year and accepted to participate the study voluntarily. The data were collected by the researchers by using “Student Introduction Form’’ and “Information Evaluation Form Concerning Usage and Treatment of Drain’’. The data obtained were evaluated using the percentage distributions, averages and chi-square test using descriptive statistics in the SPSS 23 program. The statistical significance limit was accepted as p<0.05. Results: %53.07 (n= 233) participated in the study, %73.4 (n= 171) of the students were girls, %36.9 (n= 86) were in the third grade and %83.7 (n= 195) and %7.3 (n= 17) were working in the health sector. It was determined that %63.5 of the students (n= 148) had been educated about the follow-up and care of the drains, and %50.6 (n= 118). The students responded correctly to the information evaluation questions prepared by the researchers by %55. In our study, when the relationship between students’ classes and the questions relating to basic informations about practicte and maintenance of drain, it is indicated that second year students’ rate of knowing the correct answer (%43.3) is higher than upper students. Conclusion: It was noted that nursing students' knowledge levels about drains were not sufficient in the results obtained. This lack of knowledge is considered to be due, in particular, to changes in the type of drain and the lack of relevant clinical practice courses for students as they progress through a higher class