Knowledge and applications of the nurses working in clinics/units of internal diseases for the application of corticosteroid drugs

In the treatment of corticosteroid, many side effects may be seen in individuals due to increased cortisol in plasma. The individual and correct care provided by the nurse in the treatment of corticosteroid increases the quality of life of the patients and reduces the incidence of side effects. This study was carried out with 71 nurses, descriptively and cross-sectionally in order to determine the knowledge and applications of nurses for corticosteroid drug applications in internal medicine clinics / units and to evaluate the effect of their knowledge on the application. The data were evaluated using descriptive statistics, number and percentage distributions, Spearman Rank, Mann Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn Test analyzes. It was determined that the mean age of the participants was 28.89 ± 6.48, 74.6% were women, 49.3% were high school / associate degree graduates, and 35.2% were in the working life for 5-9 years. It is clear that 90.1% of the participants did not receive in-service training on corticosteroid drug treatment, the participants did not know the physiological system / processes regulating the secretion of corticosteroid hormones (66.2%), the ways in which they were transported in plasma (81.7%), where they were metabolized (70.4%) and the ways of excretion (67.6%). Participants were familiar with the storage conditions of unprepared form of the drugs (63.4%), the storage conditions after preparation (63.4%) and the time of single dose IV administration (62%).It was determined that26.8% of the participantsapplied corticosteroid treatment in the morning (06: 00-07: 00), 19.7% of the patients receiving corticosteroid treatment followed blood glucose, 16.9% followed blood pressure and pulse and 35.2% of the participants applied salt and carbohydrate restriction in the patients receiving corticosteroid treatment. It is clear in this study that as the participants' knowledge score on corticosteroid treatment / drug increases, the application score increases significantly (p <0.001), and besides, as age increases, theoretical and practical knowledge also increase. There was a significant difference between the theoretical (p <0.014), application (p <0.036) and total knowledge score(p <0.013) of the nurses in terms of their educational level (high school / associate degree and bachelor / MA degree). It was found that the level of knowledge of individuals with undergraduate and postgraduate education was higher. It was determined that there was no significant difference between the working year and theoretical knowledge, application knowledge and total knowledge score of the participants. It was found out there was no significant difference between the working year of the participants in the clinics which they worked and the theoretical knowledge score. However, there was a significant difference between the participants' knowledge of application (p <0.013) and total knowledge score (p <0.026). As a result, it is recommended to include corticosteroid drug / treatment in in-service training programs and to establish / update clinical protocols for corticosteroid drug application.