Evaluation of radiation safety program for nurses working in intensive care

The aim of this study is; to develop education of radiation safety and to evaluate the effectiveness of this training for nurses working in intensive care units. The research consists of two stages: qualitative and quantitative. In the first stage to determine the obstacles to ensuring radiation safety in the intensive care unit working conditions of nurses working in different hospitals and intensive care units qualitative study was carried out. In this point of view, focus group interviews were done with a total of 42 nurses and the data obtained were evaluated by content analysis. The second stage of the research study was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-post test control group. The experimental and control groups consisted of 62 nurses and the study was completed with 124 nurses. To obtain behaviour for radiation safety were determined by expert opinions and these data were collected by observation. The knowledge and attitudes of the nurses about radiation safety were evaluated with the forms prepared by the researcher by reviewing the current literature. As a result of qualitative study; was observed nurses did not know the risks arising from ionized radiation and their level of awareness of ionized radiation was low. As a result, it was found that they could not be protected from ionizing radiation under intensive care working conditions. In the quantitative study, as a result of the observations, it was observed that the nurses in the experimental group developed protective behaviors from ionized radiation after training significantly compared to the control group and before the training (p<0.05). The scores of knowledge and attitudes of the nurses in the experimental group about radiation safety were higher than the control group after the training (p<0.05). After the training in the last observations, significant decreases were found in the use of some personal protective equipment of the nurses in the experimental group (p <0.05). In this study, It was concluded that the radiation safety training developed is an effective method for ensuring the radiation safety of nurses working in intensive care units.