İnvestigation of the knowledge and administrations of nurses, working in intensive care unit on high-alert medications

Aim: This study was planned as a descriptive study in order to determine the knowledge and administrations of nurses working in adult intensive care units on high-alert medication administrations. Material and Method: This descriptive study was conducted between March 2019 and September 2019 at Dokuz Eylül University Hospital. The population of the study consisted of nurses working in intensive care units (N=116), 105 nurses who constituted the population and met the sampling criteria. "Individual Identification Form", "Question Form of Description in Knowledge Levels of Nurses about High Alert Medication" and "Question Form of Description in Administrations of Nurses about High Alert Medication" were used for collecting the datas. The data were analyzed by SPSS 22 program with number, percentage distribution, Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis, Cronbach alpha analysis and Spearman correlation. The study permission was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Ege University Hospital and from Dokuz Eylül University Hospital. Results: The mean age of the nurses was 32.31 ± 5.947, 89.5% were female, 10.5% were male and 96.2% were undergraduate. It was found that 26.7% of the nurses' working time was 2-5 years and 30.5% of them worked in intensive care unit for 2-5 years. It was found that 33.3% of the nurses worked in internal intensive care unit, 30.5% in anesthesia intensive care unit. The majority of the nurses (94.3%) were working on both day and night shifts, 99% were working 40 hours or more per week. It was determined that ICU information score of high alert medications was 42 ± 27.33 and administration score was 75.29 ± 14.77. It was found that the correct response rates of the nurses to the statements about accessing, storing and shortening of high alert medications were very low, and the correct response rates for those who needed to be controlled in discriminant labeling, dose-setting expression and positive inotropic drug infusion were found to be high. In high alert medication applications, it was found that the correct response rates to expressions containing the principles of correct drug administration, control of audible and visual alarms, and statements related to positive drug infusion follow-up were found to be high. The three-time control of high alert medications, verbal doctor request, double control with a second clinician and the correct response rates to the recordings of the drug before administration were found to be very low. It was determined that the knowledge level of male nurses was significantly higher than female nurses and there was no significant difference between the percentage of administration points according to gender. According to the unit where the nurses work, it was determined that there was a difference between the information and administration scores of high-alert medications, the highest information score was in nurses working in coronary intensive care and internal intensive care units, and the highest administration score was in pacu-postop anesthesia intensive care nurses and internal intensive care nurses. It was found that there was a moderate and positive relationship between nurses' knowledge and administration scores and the administration score increased as the knowledge score increased. Conclusion: It can be said that nurses' level of knowledge about high-alert medications is low and administration awareness is sufficient. Key words: Intensive care, high-alert medication, nurse, knowledge, administration