2Gazi Üniversitesi, Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesi Hemşirelik Bölümü ANKARA
3Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Eczacılık Fakültesi Eczacılık İşletmeciliği Anabilim Dalı ANKARA
4Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Eczacılık Fakültesi Farmasötik Toksikoloji Anabilim Dalı ANKARA Introduction: The study was conducted with the aim of assessing the knowledge and experience of nurses concerning rational drug-use.
Materials and Method: One hundred and fifty two nurses working in clinics and intensive care units of two different university hospitals participated in this study. Data were collected with a “uniform questionnaire” which was developed by searching the current literature. For evaluation of the data Mann-Whitney U test, one way analysis of variance and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used.
Results: It was found that most of the nurses were not aware of the definition of “rational drug use”, but they gave information to the aged patients concerning their drugs. They were also found to evaluate the physician's order in terms of appropriateness for elderly people and at discharge they trained the elderly patients, taking their living conditions into consideration.
Conclusion: In order to increase the awareness of nurses on rational drug use, we suggest putting more emphasis on rational drug-use in the undergraduate level and in the orientation trainings at the institution.
Keywords : Aged; Drug Utilization Review; Geriatrics; Nurses