Determination of gastrointestinal system symptoms and quality of life in patients hospitalized in internal medicine department

The study was conducted in a descriptive type in order to determine the effect of gastrointestinal symptoms on the quality of life of patients hospitalized in the internal medicine service. The research was carried out with 500 patients who were hospitalized in the internal medicine wards of Yozgat City Hospital between November 2019 and April 2020 and included in the sample. The data of the study were obtained with the Patient Information Form, the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSDS), and the SF-36 Quality of Life Scale. Reliability Chronbaha Alpha analysis, descriptive statistics, independent groups t test, ANOVA analysis of variance, Pearson Correlation Analysis and Linear Regression analysis were used in the evaluation of the data. In the study, it was found that the patients' Quality of Life Scale Sub-Dimension score average was at a moderate level (48.37 ± 23.15). The mean score of the Gastrointestinal Symptom Assessment Scale was found to be 2.328±1.23. It was determined that the patients got the lowest score from the physical role difficulty and the highest score from the mental health sub-dimension in the SF-36 Quality of Life Scale. It was determined that the highest symptom severity was abdominal pain and the lowest symptom severity was diarrhea according to the GSDS of the patients. In the study, it was determined that there were low negative correlations between the severity of diarrhea symptoms and general health and physical function, and between reflux symptom severity and pain. It was found that the quality of life of the patients hospitalized in the internal medicine service was moderate and gastrointestinal symptoms reduced the quality of life. In line with these results; It is recommended that nursing care plans and counseling should be given to individuals in the risk group to reduce their gastrointestinal symptoms at regular intervals. Keywords: Gastrointestinal symptom, patient, nurse, quality of life.