Nurses' perception of phlebitis risk factors

This descriptive analytic cross-sectional study was conducted to determine nurses' perception of phlebitis risk factors. The sample of the study comprised 237 nurses working in adult patient services in Suleyman Demirel University Research and Application Hospital between 01 July-30 November 2019. The study data were collected using a survey form prepared in line with the literature. The data were analyzed using the Pearson's Chi-Square test, Fisher's Exact-Result Chi-Square test and Monte Carlo Chi-Square test. Mean age of the nurses who took part in the study was 31,27±6,78 years. Among the nurses, 81% were female, 68.4% married and 65.9% university graduate. It was determined that 43.5% of the nurses worked in the internal diseases service, 48.1% had more than five years of experience and 86.1% had not trained on phlebitis. The study found that majority of the nurses perceived the formation of phlebitis in peripheric veins as a moderate problem and a quality indicator for nursing care. In the study most of the nurses had a perception that application of the catheter to the patient by an experienced person, regular assessment and recording of the area via a scale, administration of the drug as a short-term infusion, utilization of a thin, short and plastic catheter and cleaning of skin with an antiseptic solution before the application, might reduce the phlebitis development. In addition majority of the nurses had a perception that phlebitis might also develop within 24-96 hours after removing the catheter; diseases especially such as diabetes mellitus, obesity, advanced age, venous deficiency and thromboembolic diseases might increase the risk of phlebitis development; dressing materials might affect the risk of phlebitis; infusion fluids, higher concentration, higher osmolarity and higher pH might increase the risk of phlebitis; and the risk of phlebitis development was lower on the forearm while higher on feet. The study found that some basic factors such as gender, school of graduation, work service, work experience and state of training on phlebitis, significantly affected the nurses' phlebitis perceptions from different perspectives (p<0.05). As a consequence the nurses' perception of phlebitis risk factors was at the intended level from many aspects; however, it was not in agreement with the up-to-date literature knowledge from certain aspects. In line with these results, it can be suggested that nurses be assessed regularly in terms of their knowledge and perception of phlebitis, trainings be organized based on the up-to-date literature and application-related observational studies be conducted besides perception studies. Keywords: Phlebitis, nursing care, nursing training, intravenous therapy.