Assiut Scientific Nursing Journal
Background: Nurses play an important role in identifying, preventing and caring of VTE among cancer surgery patients. Aim: To assess the effect of nursing protocol on nurses’ performance and venous thromboembolism risks among the patients with cancer undergoing surgery. Research design: A quasi-experimental (pre- posttest) research study on (30) nurses who working in surgical oncology department, at Assiut University Hospital, and (60) randomly selected patients with cancer undergoing surgery divided equally in to two groups (study and control). Tools: Three tools were utilized; A structured self-administered questionnaire, observational check list and VTE risk factors assessment scale. Results: The mean score of total nurses' knowledge and practice significantly increased after the intervention nursing protocol. There was a statistically significant difference between both groups regarding venous thromboembolism risks and half of the studied patients had intermediate risk of VTE while two thirds had high risks post application of the nursing protocol. Conclusion: The implementation of the nursing protocol had a significant improvement on nurse’s knowledge and practice in addition to a significantly diminishing of thromboembolism risks among study than control group. Recommendation: Regularly updating and refreshing the nurses’ knowledge and practice are recommended through workshops to minimize the risks of VTE among the patients with cancer undergoing surgery.