Comparison of Mobile Education and Face-to-Face Intermittent Catheterization Education in Terms of Knowledge and Skill Levels of Nursing Students

Today, Clean Intermittent Catheterization (CIC) is widely used to drain urine accumulated in the bladder in acute or chronic problems such as neurogenic bladder and prostate hypertrophy.Since CIC is a procedure performed on the bladder, it may cause some complications.In order to prevent or reduce complications, CIC application must be performed successfully. The success of the technique depends largely on patient education and follow-up.Nurses play a fundamental role in providing theoretical and practical learning in CIC training and early detection of complications.For this reason, it is important for nurses to have knowledge on this subject in terms of the quality of the education to be given and patient follow-up. Although there are international guidelines in the literature prepared for nurses who will provide CIC training, nursing students' knowledge on this subject is generally limited to indwelling urinary catheterization.Today, the rapid development of technology and pandemics such as COVID-19 have shown the importance of alternative education methods in addition to face-to-face education. Educational technologies are used in nursing education and these methods provide student-centered education to students wherever and whenever they want.It is important for nursing students to understand this issue better through mobile applications and face-to-face training, and to know how to communicate with the patient and what materials will be needed when a patient who applies CIC is admitted to the hospital. Because although CIC training is given by professional nurses in urology and rehabilitation clinics, patients who apply CIC may be admitted to different clinics due to other health problems. In such cases, the nurse working in the clinic must have knowledge about CIC application. Although face-to-face education is widely used in the education of nursing students, mobile applications have become popular in recent years. There is no previous study in the literature on clean intermittent catheterization education with nursing students. The purpose of this study is to compare mobile-assisted education with face-to-face intermittent catheterization education in terms of knowledge and skill levels of nursing students.