Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: This research has been conducted to determine what nurses know about patient safety and to investigate the effects of an in-service training on their knowledge levels. METHODS: This is a comparative pre-test and post-test semi-experimental study. 90 nurses working at the Internal Diseases Department Clinics of a university hospital participated in the research in March 2011. The participants were provided with an in-service training regarding patient safety and they were given questionnaires about patient safety before and after the training. The data was evaluated in percentages and by using chi-square test. RESULTS: It was determined that 15% of the nurses had previously taken patient safety trainings and 23.3% experienced patient safety problems during care. When the pre-test and post-test results of the training were taken into account, it was observed that there were signi cant increases in the number of correct answers given on the post-test regarding the subjects of drug safety, blood and blood products, lowering the risk of infection, lowering the risk of falling, and radiation safety (p=0.000). CONCLUSION: It has been determined that the patient safety in-service training program has increased the knowledge levels of the nurses. It would be bene cial to arrange more in-service training programs on the subject of patient safety.

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