Determination of pre-discharge information requirements in patients undergoing breast cancer surgery

Objective: A descriptive study was conducted to determine the pre-discharge information needs of patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgical intervention. xiv Materials and Methods: The data of the study were collected by face-to-face interviews with 60 patients between April and May 2024 in a university hospital in Istanbul as a bicenter after obtaining institutional permission and ethics committee permission. "Descriptive Characteristics Form" and 'Patient Learning Needs Scale' were used for data collection. Results: The mean overall score of the patients was 216.57±27.95 (range: 115-250). The mean age of the patients was 53.38±11.30 years, 81.7% were married, 86.7% had children, 58.3% had high school education or higher, 75% were not actively working, 93.3% had health insurance, 80% lived mostly in city centers, only 23.3% exercised regularly, and 23.3% smoked. When the significance levels of the patients in the subgroups of the 'Patient Learning Needs Scale' were analyzed, it was determined that the highest significance level score belonged to the "treatment and complications" sub-dimension (4.54±0.49) and the lowest significance level score belonged to the "feelings about the situation" sub-dimension (4.09±0.89). Educational requirements were found to be significantly higher in the group aged 50 years and younger, in those who graduated from high school and higher educational institutions, in those whose income was less than their expenses, and in those who exercised regularly (p<0.05). Conclusion-Recommedations: It is recommended that discharge education in patients undergoing breast surgery should be planned in line with the needs of patients, education should be provided by competent healthcare professionals, and more comprehensive studies should be conducted with different patients. Keywords: Breast Surgery, Education Requirements