Knowledge and practices of nurses on cervical cancer,HPV and HPV vaccine in Cankiri state hospital,Turkey

Objective: to determine knowledge and practices of nurses on cervical cancer,human papillomavirus and its vaccine. methods: this descriptive study was conducted at cankiri karatekin university,cankiri,turkey,from december 2015 to january 2016,and included nurses.. a survey was used to collect data about socio-demographic features and knowledge and practices on cervical cancer and screening,signs and symptoms of cervical cancer and human papillomavirus vaccine. spss 16 was used for data analysis. results: of the 110(61.1%) participants,83(75.5%),78(70.9%) and 45(40.9%) did not know risk factors of cervical cancer,signs of cervical cancer and how to protect oneself against cervical cancer,respectively. moreover,56(50.9%),85(77.3%) and 60(54.5%) knew the route of transmission of human papillomavirus,risk factors of human papillomavirus and its vaccine,respectively. besides,2(1.8%) nurses received human papillomavirus vaccine. also,11(10%) nurses received a regular pap smear test and 19(17.3%) received a regular gynaecological examination. the reasons given for not having the examinations were being sexually inactive in 28(25.5%) cases,not feeling the need for an examination 26(23.6%),shying away from gynaecological examinations 13(11.8%),and having inadequate knowledge 6(5.5%). significantly higher rates of the nurses aged >40 years,having given birth,and having regular gynaecological examinations had a pap smear test (p<0.05). conclusion: knowledge of nurses about risk factors,signs and prevention of cervical cancer were found to be below the desired level. © 2016,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.