INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study is to determine the levels of anxiety, depression, perceived social support and life satisfaction in mothers with children in the Pediatric Cardiac Care Unit (PCCU).
METHODS: The study was conducted with 211 mothers who had children in the of PCCU a hospital. Ethics committee approval, institutional consent and individual consent were obtained for the study. Data were collected through the introductory characteristics form, hospital anxiety-depression scale, perceived social upport from family and friends scale and life satisfaction scale.
RESULTS: Of the mothers whose children were in PCCU after heart surgery; 29.9% were between 26-30 years old, 35.1% were primary school graduates, 85.3% were housewife and 83.4% had a nuclear family. Of mothers' children in the study; 35.6% were ≥13 months, 59.7% were male, 47.4% had acyanotic CHD which increases pulmonary blood flow and 30.8% had surgery history. It was determined that mothers who had children in PCCU experienced both anxiety and depression above the moderate level. As anxiety increased in mothers, the level of depression increased; life satisfaction increased as anxiety and depression decreased; similarly, as the perceived social support increased, the level of life satisfaction increased.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Attention should be made to screening mothers of children in PCCU for depression and anxiety. It can be suggested that professional support should be provided in order to reduce the level of anxiety and depression experienced by mothers with children in PCCU and activities should be carried out in order to increase their life satisfaction.

INTRODUCTION: In this study, it was aim ed to evaluate the self-care of patients who had varicose vein surgery after discharge.
METHODS: The study was completed with 101 patients who applied to the Cardiovascular Surgery Clinic of a hospital between February and May 2019 for varicose vein surgery. Data were collected from patients preoperatively, on the 0th postoperative day, and 1 month after discharge, using the data collection form, Self-Care Agency Scale, and Visual Analog Scale.
RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 48.9 ± 12.6, 71.3% of the patients were female. It was determined that the patients' preoperative Self-Care Agency Scale scores were higher than the postoperative scores. It was determined that 73.3% of the patients spent their day time activities standing up, 56.4% had a varicose problem before. Our results revealed that 24.8% of the patients did not wear the compression stockings continuously, 63.4% of patients did not elevate their extremities and were wearing the compression stockings wrong, 24.8% of the patients did not perform their exercises, and 80.2% stated that they had pain.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: We conclude that self-care of the varicose vein patients following surgery after discharge is insufficient. For this reason, it can be suggested that nurses should focus on information that increases the self-care of patients in post-discharge training.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the study is to examine the use of evidence-based practices in the prevention of venous thromboembolism in surgical clinics.
METHODS: The descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the surgical clinics of a university hospital in the Aegean Region with the participation of 300 patients between December 1, 2019, and May 31, 2020. “Descriptive Data Form” and “Autar Deep Vein Thrombosis Risk Diagnostic Scale” were used to collect data.
RESULTS: The mean scale score of the patients was 11.08 ± 3.79, and 57% of them were in the medium- and high-risk group. The mean ambulation time of the patients was 27.34 ± 16.13 hours. All of the patients performed foot–leg exercises. Of the low-risk patients, 97.70% (n = 126) were ambulated in the first 24 hours, 71.30% (n = 92) only performed foot and leg exercises, and 28.70% had mechanical prophylaxis combined with pharmacological prophylaxis. It was determined that foot–leg exercise and pharmacological prophylaxis were used together in 96.70% (n = 59) of high-risk patients, and graduated compression stockings were also used in 78.70% of them.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Thromboprophylaxis practices in the clinics where we performed our study show parallelism with evidence-based practices, but the average ambulation time is high. It is recommended to include the importance of early ambulation in in-service training to standardize ambulation in clinics, and to use checklists containing evidence-based approaches.

INTRODUCTION: To reveal the clinical experiences of the newly recruited and senior nurses in the cardiovascular surgery clinic.
METHODS: The qualitative descriptive study was conducted in the cardiovascular surgery clinic of a university hospital. Four nurses who worked in the clinic for less than 1 year and 5 nurses who worked in the clinic for at least 5 years were included in the study. Data were collected face to face through individual in-depth interviews. Concepts and main themes were formed from the written interviews with inductive content analysis.
RESULTS: The age range of the nurses was between 24 and 38 years, and all of them (n = 9) were female. The duration of the nurses working in the clinic ranged from 4 months to 15 years. The difficulties experienced by all nurses in providing care were inadequacies in physical conditions, inadequacy in the number of working nurses, and burnout. The difficulties experienced by senior nurses while working with newly recruited nurses were lack of knowledge, generation gap, and becoming dependent on nursing roles. The difficulties experienced by the newly recruited nurses while working with experienced nurses were feeling of psychological pressure and communication problems.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: There are many difficulties experienced by all nurses in the cardiovascular surgery clinic. Increasing the motivation of nurses is very important; organizational solutions are important.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study is to examine the knowledge and practices of surgical nurses working in intensive care units and surgical services regarding venous thromboembolism.
METHODS: The research was a cross-sectional study conducted in a University hospital between June and September 2018, with 145 surgical nurses working in the surgical clinic and intensive care unit. The research data were collected with a 40-question questionnaire that inquired about nurses’ demographic characteristics (14 questions), nurses’ knowledge about venous thromboembolism (15 questions), and their application status about venous thromboembolism (11 questions). In the evaluation of the data, descriptive statistics and chi-square analyses were used.
RESULTS: Of the nurses, 73% received venous thromboembolism training, 48.3% received education from university courses, 58.3% of them were evaluated as good, and 55.2% of them used pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods for prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism in the clinic. It was found that the place where the nurses received training on venous thromboembolism and the average working time affected the level of knowledge given to the patient and/or his family about the subject.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: It was seen that the nurses who had previously received training on venous thromboembolism were more knowledgeable and their practices were correct. It can be said that nurses need a comprehensive planned training on venous thromboembolism.

INTRODUCTION: Objective: This study was applied as a descriptive study in order to indicate the factors affecting chronic heart failure patients’ adaptation to medicine and diet and to evaluate the relationship between adaptation and life quality.
METHODS: Methods: The research has been executed in Education Research Hospital Cardiology Unit in Trakya province between October 19, 2015, and January 19, 2016. A total of 318 chronic heart failure patients composed the sample. The data of the study were gathered by using Introducing Features Information Form, The Beliefs About Fidelity Integration Scale, Beliefs About Diet Compliance Scale, and Life Quality Scale.
RESULTS: Results: The mean score of the beliefs scale about the adaptation of medicine and diet was high (P <.05) in males and patients whose illness had a negative effect on their working life. In addition, the average scores of the Beliefs about Diet Compliance Scale of patients who were educated about heart failure and management; who had sufficient knowledge about illnesses, drugs, and side effects; and who regularly use their medicines were found high (P <.05).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Conclusions: It was determined that there is a very weak relationship in a meaningful and negative way between the patient's Diet Adaptation Scale barrier subscale and the Diet fit and the Quality of Life Scales subscales. In this respect, it may be suggested that cardiology nurses and patients should be educated on the importance of health lifestyle behaviors, adaptation to medication, and diet.

INTRODUCTION: This study was conducted to examine the self-awareness of individuals with heart failure diagnosis regarding disease compliance.
METHODS: The research was carried out using descriptive, in-depth interviews and content analysis in qualitative method design. The study was conducted with 17 individuals who were admitted to a city hospital for treatment between July and September 2022, had heart failure for at least 6 months, and were diagnosed with a left ventricular ejection fraction < 40% from functional class New York Heart Association III-IV ambulatory class. The personal data of the patients were obtained with the “Socio-Demographic Characteristics Data Collection Form” and a semi-structured questionnaire. The interviews were conducted face to face in an unused polyclinic room in the hospital and lasted approximately 45-60 minutes.
RESULTS: It was determined that the majority of the patients (70.58%) had stage III heart failure and the diagnosis was made in more than 1 year. As a result of the content analysis, 4 main themes were determined as "adherence to medical treatment," "maintaining physician control," "health practices," and "control of the symptoms of the disease" regarding the disease compliance and self-awareness of the patients.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: As a result of our findings, patients’ compliance with medical treatment and regular physician controls are at a high level; we can state that positive health practices and self-awareness are at a moderate level.

Pulmonary edema is a life-threatening clinical condition that requires immediate intervention. It is also an important source of burden in terms of health costs, as it causes long-term hospitalizations and morbidity. It can occur due to cardiogenic and noncardiogenic causes. It can worsen the general condition by creating signs and symptoms such as hypoxia, hypercapnia, dyspnea, tachypnea, anxiety, pink foamy sputum, sweating, impaired consciousness, and rales in patients. Early diagnosis, correct assessment, and successful management of pulmonary edema improve the condition by relieving most of the symptoms. In order to achieve the desired health outcomes, nurses need to plan and implement effective interventions by knowing the signs and symptoms of pulmonary edema and current treatment methods.