Investigation of documentations about intravenous fluid treatment of nurses

This descriptive study aims to examine documentation about Intravenous Fluid Treatment (IVFT) of nurses. Study population comprises 244 nurses working at Gazi University Health Research and Application Center and sampling is consist of 150 nurses. Clinics used in this study were gathered in three groups that are internal, surgery and intensive care units. The number of nurses in each unit was determined rational distribution method. Data were collected between January 2007 and April 2007 using descriptive properties form about nurses, observation form about investigation of the documentation about IVFT of nurses and observation guide for researchers. Coding and evaluation of the procedure obtained from the investigation have been carried out using SPSS 11.0 computer programme. In the evaluation of the data number, percentage and Chi Square test have been used. The most frequent fulfilled knowledge of recordings were as follows: the type of solution (94%), total solution amount (85.3%), date of treatment (79.3%) the name and surname of patient (66.7%), the type and name of the medication added to solution (54.7%) and total medication amount (52%). The least frequent fulfilled knowledge of recordings were as follows: the diagnosis of patients (17.3%) and the time of passage of medication added to solution (1.3%). The nurses never record to knowledge that are type of IV fluid treatment, complications and discontinuation of therapy. According to findings of this study, the behavior of nurses giving care to the patients with IVFT is not at the desired level in terms of recording of IVFT. Suggestions have been made with respect to findings of this study. Key Words: Nursing, Intravenous Fluid Treatment, Documentation