Determination of Post‐operative Urinary Retention Knowledge Levels of Nurses Working in Surgical Clinics

ABSTRACT To determine surgical nurses' post‐operative urinary retention information status. The study was conducted as a descriptive study with 273 nurses working in the surgical clinics of a city hospital in Türkiye who volunteered to participate between 15 September and 1 November 2022. The first part of the two‐part data collection form included descriptive characteristics of the nurses, and the second part included 20 five‐option multiple‐choice questions measuring nurses' knowledge about POUR. Data were analysed using the SPSS 22.0 package programme, including percentage distribution, standard tests, Shapiro–Wilks, Mann–Whitney, Kruskal–Wallis variance tests and chi‐squared tests. Statistical significance was accepted at p < 0.05. The study found that 26.7% of surgical nurses had previously received training on post‐operative urinary retention, 52.7% had previously encountered a patient with post‐operative urinary retention and 36.6% had resolved this problem with bladder catheterization. Furthermore, the median knowledge score of surgical nurses regarding post‐operative urinary retention was 40 out of 100; this score was found to increase with age, gender, and length of professional experience ( p < 0.05). In the study, surgical nurses' post‐operative urinary retention knowledge score was below average. Improvements should be made to nurses' professional knowledge and the scientific evidence supporting urinary retention, a serious post‐operative complication.