Nurses' Knowledge and practices regarding the Perioperative Care of Patients with Cholelithiasis undergoing Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: Guidelines Proposal

Background: cholelithiasis is considered one of the most common digestive tract diseases and  constitutes an important health problem in the developed countries. Objective: Assess nurses'  knowledge regarding the perioperative care of patients with cholelithiasis undergoing laparoscopic  cholecystectomy, assess nurses' practices regarding the perioperative care of patients with  cholelithiasis undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy, and propose perioperative care guidelines  for patients with cholelithiasis undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Settings: This study was 
conducted in two settings namely; Alexandria Main University Hospital, and Medical Research  Institute in the inpatient Hepato-biliary and Pancreatic Surgery Department. Subjects: Subjects were  assigned into two groups as follows; Group one (Jury members): Thirty-seven expert members in  nursing and education and service (twenty-five members of the Medical-Surgical Nursing Department,  ten surgeons, and two head nurses.Group two (Studied nurses): Consisted of all nurses (n=50) who  were available at the time of data collection; twenty from Alexandria Main University Hospital and 
thirty from Medical Research Institute. Tools: Three tools were developed by the researcher based on  the review of recent related literature to collect the necessary data for this study; Tool I: Basic Nurses'  Perioperative Care Opinionnaire Sheet for Patients with Cholelithiasis Undergoing Laparoscopic  Cholecystectomy. Tool II: Nurses' Knowledge of the Perioperative Care of Patients with Cholelithiasis  undergoing Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy Structured Interview Schedule . Tool III: Nurses'  Perioperative Care practices of Patients with Cholelithiasis Undergoing Laparoscopic  Cholecystectomy Observational Checklist.Results: The total interventions were fair in more than twothirds (80%) of the studied nurses, while (20%) had a good performance levels. there was no  statistically significant relationship between the nurses' level of intervention and their age, gender,  marital status, level of education, years of experience, and the working hospital (p=0.082, 0.192,  0.343, 0.279, 0.203, and 0.470) respectively .There was no statistically significant relationship between the level of nurses’ intervention and their level of knowledge (p=0.254).Conclusion: 
The results of the present study concluded that more than half of the studied nurses had a fair total  level of knowledge regarding patients undergoing cholecystectomy and the majority of the studied  nurses had a fair level of practice regarding patients undergoing cholecystectomy. Recommendations: Continuing developing nursing staff competencies in cholelithiasis undergoing  laparoscopic cholecystectomy patient care before and after surgery, surgical units should be supplied  with a protocol regarding nursing performance for patients undergoing surgical procedures,  establishing regular and ongoing educational workshops for continuous updating of their knowledge of cholelithiasis undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy, and organizing periodic educational  training sessions about the comprehensive care of cholelithiasis undergoing laparoscopic  cholecystectomy and the role of the nurse.