Assessment of Nurses Knowledge about Health Education to Patients with Brain Tumors Postoperatively

Background and objective: Before, during and after treatment, nurses and allied health professionals should inform and educate patients about the risks and complications of any planned diagnostic test, intervention or treatment. Patients and families should be taught about some of the common side effects of treatment after operation including weight loss, malnutrition, pain, fatigue, and depression. This study aimed to assess nurse’s knowledge about health education for patients with brain tumors during their post-operative period. Materials and Method: descriptive design study was conducted at two teaching hospitals, Neurosurgical hospital and surgical specialties hospital in Baghdad in which craniotomy was performed. Data have been collected by using prepared form, from the period (September 5th 2012 to November 5th 2012. 50 nurses male and female participated in the study. Results: Most of the convenient sample of the study was females 56% their educational levels were high institute and college graduate.34%. The study showed that nurses gender, educational level have a significant association with their abilities of providing of health education about brain tumors postoperatively. Conclusion: The main result of the study revealed that there were significant associations between nurse’s educational level and their knowledge about health education regarding post-operative patients with brain tumors. Keywords: health education, brain tumors, postoperatively.