Evaluation of nursing and midwifery students' knowledge levels on occupational health and safety

Purpose: Purpose of this descriptive and regression analysis is to assess knowledge levels of nursing and midwifery students on occupational health and safety and to determine the factors that affect knowledge levels. Tools-Method: Sample of the study was composed of 353 students that agreed to participate in the study, aged 18 or above, attending sophomore, junior, and senior classes of "Nursing" department of Demiroğlu Bilim University Florence Nightingale Hospital and "Midwifery" department Health Sciences Faculty between May 09, 2023 and June 01, 2023. Following receipt of board permit and ethics board approval, data was collected using the survey form prepared by the author that was filled out online on Google Form medium and assessed with statistical analysis. Findings: It was determined that 81.3% of the students were female, 18.7% were male, with a mean age of 22.71±1.96. It was also determined that 98.6% of the students were single, 60.9% were graduates of Anatolian/Science High Schools, 38.5% were senior students, 82.2% were studying at nursing and 17.8% were studying at midwifery departments, 62% lived with their families. 49.6% of the students were determined to be academically successful, while 81% had mean knowledge levels of OHS and 87% received education on OHS. It was determined that 20.4% of the students read OHS law. Knowledge levels of nursing and midwifery students on occupational health and safety were found to be statistically significant with relation to their age, gender, type of high school graduated from, year of education, academic success, OHS knowledge level, state of receiving OHS education, and state of reading the OHS law. Result: With this study, adding occupational health and safety classes in curriculum and presenting during practice classes and internships would be appropriate. Keywords: Occupational health and safety, nursing, midwifery, student, knowledge level