The levels of knowledge of the intensive care nurses in terms of parenteral nutrition and practices

This research was conducted to determine the levels of knowledge of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses' in terms of parenteral nutrition (PN) and their practices. This cross-sectional study was conducted with 234 ICU nurses working in 7 state hospitals in Istanbul between 15.08.2017 - 08.10.2017. The data were collected using the "Knowledge Level Questionnaire for PN and Practices of ICU Nurses". In the evaluation of the data, descriptive statistical tests, Kolmogorov Smirnov test, Anova, Tukey HSD tests and Student's t test were used. The mean age of the ICU nurses was 27,68 ± 4,57 and %81.6 were female. %88.9 of the ICU nurses received information about PN and %62,4 of them learned this knowledge during professional training, %37,2 of them were informed from healthcare team who working with, 32,9% were informed on in-service training, %25,6 of them informed from congresses, seminars and courses that they participated in. It was found that ICU nurses answered the questions about PN and their practices correctly between %19,7 and %98,7. PN questionnaires' scores of ICU nurses are between 12-65, and the average score of the knowledge point is 49,95 ± 8,93. Mean average score of PB definition subscale of ICU nurses was 0,98 ± 0,11, mean of PN indications subscale average score was 5,28 ± 1,71, mean of PN contraindications subscale average score was 1,56 ± 0,92, mean of PN advantages subscale average score was 3,10 ± 1,03, mean of PN complications subscale average score was 4,76 ± 1,54, mean of PN clinical nursing practice subscale average score was 19,45 ± 4,03, mean of PN nursing interventions subscale average score was 12,88 ± 2,23 and mean of PN troubleshooting subscale average score was found to be 1,89 ± 0,42. The PN advantages information point averages of the older nurses who were older than 25 years and married were found to be higher also female nurses information point averages about PN indications were found to be higher (p<0,05; p<0,05; p<0,01). PN indications and advantages information point averages of ICU nurses with undergraduate and graduate degrees were higher also ICU nurses who worked 6 years or more's PN advantages information point averages were higher (p<0,05; p<0,05). The mean scores of PN knowledge of pediatric and general ICU nurses were higher than the other ICU nurses (p<0,05). The average total score of PN knowledge of ICU nurses who had previously received PN education and ICU nurses who thought that they had enough knowledge about PN was higher (p<0,001; p<0,01). ICU nurses who received PN training with in-service training, during the congress, seminar, course and from the health team that they were working with both had higher PN total point averages (p<0,05; p<0,05; p<0,001). As a result of the research, the knowledge levels of the ICU nurses about PN was determined medium and above. ICU nurses who previously received in-service training, congress, seminar, course, and from healthcare team training about PN were found to have a higher knowledge level of PN.