Development and Area Adaptation of Flow Charts Related to Gynecologic Oncology Nursing Practices

Aim: This one group semi-experimental study was performed to develop and adapt flow charts of nursingpractices applied to gynecologic oncology patients to the field.
Methods: The research was conducted betweenOctober 2008 and March 2009 in 6 hospitals in Istanbul (3 health ministry hospitals, 2 private hospitals and 1university hospital) with effective programs. The scope of the study included 97 midwives/nurses who had beenworking as caregivers of gynecologic oncology patients in this unit at least for 6 months and who participatedin this study voluntarily; 87 people composed the sample because of the absence of others on vacation or sickleave when the data were collected or who did not wish to participate. The data were in descriptive informationform collected via “Forms to Determine the Efficiency of Flow Charts”. Before data collection, risks related togynecologic oncology problems were identified, a literature scanning was made for existing flow charts based onactual practices and the discovered charts were reviewed. As a result of the evaluations, it was decided to create 15flow charts intended for risks, symptoms, operation processes and discharge. Questionnaires to determine activitywere applied to participants before and after practice.
Results: As a result of the study, it was determined thatthe efficiency of the flow charts increased significantly (p <0.01) after practice of the participants, nosignificantrelationships (p>0.01) being apparent with age group, education level, occupational period in the job and inthe gynecologic oncology field and evaluations of the practice before and after it was applied.
Conclusion: Theresults of the study revealed that nursing participants in university and private hospitals and who supportedthe existence of a flow chart in the field evaluated the flow charts positively.