ABSTRACT

To avoid legislative complications in nursing, it is important for the nurses to know their professional and legal responsibilities. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the awareness and cognizance of nurses toward these issues in order to determine the subjects that are not well-known and to propose actions to mediate this problem.

The descriptive research was conducted at the Istanbul University, Hospital of the Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty; from the approached 950 nurses a total of 606 participated in this study. The data was collected using a 25-item questionnaire using the face-to-face method. The data obtained was statistically analyzed using SPSS 14 with respect to: education, the current and/or previous work unit, proficiency and previous educational training regarding these issues. The statistical connection amongst data was determined using the chi-square test and values of p≤0.05 were considered significant.

A significant proportion of the nurses are not aware of their legal and professional responsibilities or are misinformed. We found no connection between the level of knowledge and their unit of employment but found a significant correlation with their level of education, professional experience, history of specific education for nursing responsibilities and legislation.

In conclusion it is suggested that additional training on these issues should be carried out periodically for all nurses independent of hierarchy.

Keywords: Nurse, Legislation, Legal responsibility, Awareness, Malpractice