Nurses In Turkey Research Articles

The Ethical Sensitivity of Nurses in Turkey

The Ethical Sensitivity of Nurses in Turkey

The Ethical Sensitivity of Nurses in Turkey

In this study we tried to gain information about the ethical sensitivity (as well as the ethical knowledge) of nurses working at the bedside in our country. Four scenarios were presented to 165 nurses working in hospital wards in Kocaeli. More than half of the nurses can be considered to have made decisions based on beneficence for the first scenario, while more than half of them preferred to make decisions based on autonomy for the second and the fourth scenarios. For the third scenario, most of the nurses (76.4%) can be said to have based their decisions on veracity. These results suggest that these nurses were sensitive to issues of confidentiality, truth telling and beneficence; however, they were not equally sensitive when the right to refuse treatment was concerned.

How nurses approach ethical problems in Turkey.

Previously, nurse's adherence to ethical standards meant obedience to the physician and loyalty to the hospital; now, however, it means following ethical standards and rules set forth by professional codes of ethics. The International Council of Nurses' Code for Nurses (1973) has been the model for professional codes of ethics in countries throughout the world. Using ICN's Code as a framework, a study was conducted in 1993 to find out how nurses in Turkey respond to ethical dilemmas. Below, a summary of the findings.

Sexual Harassment of Female Nurses in a Hospital in Turkey

Sexual harassment has been identified as a universal factor that can affect nursing performance and work productivity in any type of health care facility. Few studies in the area of sexual harassment have been conducted in developing countries, and this is the first study of its type to be conducted in the country of Turkey. The general purpose of this study is to examine whether the problem of sexual harassment truly is "universal' and to begin to address whether it exists among female nurses in Turkey. Translated surveys were distributed to selected nurses in Ankara, Turkey, asking about their experiences of sexual harassment during their nursing practice. With a response rate of 58% (n = 229), 75% of the respondents reported having been sexually harassed during their nursing practice. The most commonly reported forms of sexual harassment included sexual testing, jokes, remarks or questions and pressure for dates. Harassment by physicians (44%), by patients (34%), by relatives of patients (14%) and others (9%) were noted. Further, a significant relationship was found between sexual harassment of nurses who work in inpatient or outpatient clinics. In general, these findings suggest that sexual harassment of female nurses remains a disturbing problem in this developing country. Based on the findings, implications for policy and further study are suggested.

A study on the necessity of proficiency examination for nurses in Turkey.

A study on the necessity of proficiency examination for nurses in Turkey.

Relationship of anxiety and burnout with extrasystoles in critical care nurses in Turkey.

Objective:To determine the relationship between levels of anxiety and burnout and prevalence of atrial extrasystoles (AESs) and ventricular extrasystoles (VESs) among critical care nurses.Methods:The sample of study included 51 nurses who worked in the intensive care units of a university hospital located in western Turkey. Beck’s Anxiety Inventory and the Maslach Burnout Inventory were used in the study.Results:The mean emotional exhaustion score of the nurses was 14.68±6.10, the mean personal accomplishment score was 19.19±7.08, the mean depersonalization score was 5.31±3.84 and the mean anxiety score was 12.37±11.12. The rates of VESs and AESs detected in the critical care nurses were 21.6% and 35.3%, respectively. No relationship was found between levels of anxiety and burnout and the prevalence of AESs and VESs among the critical care nurses. A positive correlation was found between personal accomplishment scores and numbers of VESs (r= 0.693, p=0.001) and AESs (r= 0.700, p= 0.001).Conclusion:In the present study, there were low mean scores of burnout and anxiety among nurses working in intensive care units. No relationship was found between levels of anxiety and burnout and the prevalence of AESs and VESs among nurses who work in intensive care units. It was found that the people feeling more personal accomplishment have more VES or AES. The prevalence of AESs and VESs among the critical care nurses suffering from burnout and anxiety may be studied in the future studies.

The Red Crescent School in Istanbul

T HE preparation of professional nurses in Turkey was started under the authority of the Ministry of Health in 1925. It was to the Red Crescent Society that this important task was allotted. Down through the years the nursing in Turkish hospitals, as in other lands, had been carried on by men and women servants. Among them were many kindly souls, but the aid they could give was limited. Tradition and custom made it difficult to find eligible students since there was no public school education for girls until the creation of the Turkish Republic in 1923. The Red Crescent Society, however, headed by Dr. Refik Saydam, who was at the same time the Minister of Health, established an independent school in Istanbul with the aim of preparing a better type of nurse. Only primary school education (five years of' schooling) was required in the beginning, and many of the students were very young. The school was directed by Dr. Omer Liitfi Eti, assisted by either German or Austrian nurses until 1936; theoretical instruction was given by many of the older physicians, and the continental ideas of housework and discipline were thoroughly inculcated. The students had their nursing practice for the most part in a large general hospital for men and a small private institution for obstetric patients. The results of these efforts, however, did not fill the needs of the progressive Ministry of Health, which was seeking public health nurses and others who could assume great responsibilities in the national hospital system. In 1936 an American nurse was invited to reorganize the school, and a