Analysis of Postgraduate Theses on Pediatric Patient Safety in the Field of Nursing

Aim: This study was conducted to examine postgraduate theses related to patient safety in children in the field of nursing in Türkiye. Method: This systemetic review was conducted by searching the Higher Education Council National Thesis Center database. Theses written in Turkish, with full text access permission, and not meta-analyses, conducted in the field of nursing on patient safety in children were included in the study. During the search, the keywords patient safety, medication error, medical error, child, pediatrics, newborn, and infant were used, and no date restrictions were applied. The study examined the descriptive and research method characteristics of the theses. Descriptive statistics, including frequency and percentage tests, were used to evaluate the data. The theses were reviewed using the PRISMA checklist. Results: A total of 21 postgraduate theses conducted that met the inclusion criteria were identified in the study. It was determined that 90.5% of the theses examined were master's theses, 81.0% were conducted at state universities, and 57.1% were conducted in the department of pediatric nursing. When the research method characteristics of the theses were examined, it was found that 61.9% of them were descriptive, the majority (61.9%) of the study sample group were nurses, and the data were collected by the survey method in 71.4%. Conclusion: As a result, there is a limited number of postgraduate theses in the field of nursing on patient safety in children in Turkey, most of which are master's theses and descriptive study type. Nurses play an important role in ensuring patient safety in children. Therefore, it is recommended that pediatric nurses conduct more research to improve patient safety practices.