Are Nurses Willing to Provide Care to Obese Surgical Patients?

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify the willingness of nurses working in surgical units to provide care to obese surgical patients and related factors. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted with 250 nurses from surgical units of the 3 hospitals. Data analysis was performed by using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and chi-square test. Results: It was found that 85.6% of nurses were unwilling to provide care to obese surgical patients. The reasons of nurses' unwillingness to provide care included back/low-back pain, fears of dropping the patient, and inability to meet patients' care needs. It was determined that the intensive care nurses, who provided care to one to three patients a month, who were untrained in obese patient care, who worked with inadequate staff during nursing care procedures, and those who experienced emotional problems during care delivery were unwilling to provide caring. It was also found that most of the equipment required for obese patient care was unsuitable for caring. Conclusion: The findings of this study demonstrated that nurses were unwilling to provide care to obese surgical patients. The unwillingness was mostly caused by certain clinical features, nurses' emotional problems during care delivery, lack of necessary equipment, and inadequate staffing.