Determining of nurses attitudes and behaviors regarding the prevention of surgical site infections

This research was conducted to evaluate the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices of nurses regarding the prevention of surgical site infection. The research's universe included 288 nurses working in surgical clinics and operating rooms at Ege University Medical Faculty Hospital in İzmir between October and December 2017. The studies sample included 199 volunteers and nurses matching the research limitations in participating in clinics and operating rooms at Ege University Medical Faculty Hospital between October and December 2017. The data collection tool consists of a total of 50 questions including the sociodemographic information form developed by the researcher and the attitudes and applications of the nurses in the prevention of SSI prepared according to the literature. The results of the research were evaluated in the SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0) program. The reliability of the administered surveys was checked by Cronbach alpha coefficients. Data's; number, percentage, mean ± standard deviation. The assumption of normal distribution of knowledge and attitude scores was tested with Kolmogov Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests. These scores were assessed using non-parametric tests (Kruskall Wallis and Mann Whitney U) because information and attitude scores were not normally shared out. When the relationship between knowledge score of nurses and education status was examined, it was not found that statistically significant difference between knowledge score and education status. (p=0.846) When the relationship between the study duration of nurses and information score was examined, it was found that statistically significant relationship was found between study duration and knowledge scores. (p=0.283) When the relationship between nurses' education of infections and knowledge score was examined, it was determined that there was a statistically significant relationship between infections education status and knowledge score. (p=0.017) A weak, negative, and significant correlation was found between the infecting status and the of knowledge, and it was determined that the knowledge score of infectious disease educators was higher. There was a weak, negative and significant correlation between infection education status and attitude score (p = 0.004), it was determined that the attitude score of the infection education areas was higher. The results obtained in the research; it was found that the knowledge and attitude scores of the nurses who got educated infection training were significantly higher than the nurses who did not studied infection training, and significant differences could not be detected in the other comparison parameters. Keywords: Surgical site infections, nurse, knowledge, attitudes, behaviors