Nursing Students’ Knowledge of Evidence-Based Peripheral Intravenous Catheter Management and Professional Self-Efficacy

Abstract: Background: Peripheral intravenous catheters (PIVCs) are widely used invasive devices in healthcare. Adherence to evidence-based guidelines across insertion, maintenance, access, and removal is critical to reducing infections and other complications. Aim: To assess nursing students’ knowledge of PIVC management and their professional self-efficacy. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study included 287 nursing students who had successfully completed the Fundamentals of Nursing course. Data were collected via Google Forms using a 10-item PIVC Knowledge Test and the Nursing Profession Self-Efficacy Scale (NPSS; Turkish version). Analyses were performed in SPSS 24.0 using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation (α=0.05). Results: Participants’ mean age was 21.37+/-1.36 years (range 19–26); 73.5% were female. Outside the course, 69.7% reported not receiving any PIVC training; clinical experience was 1–5 insertions in 30.0% and >=12 in 36.9%. A total of 81.9% requested additional training on PIVC management. The mean knowledge score was 81.49+/-12.98 (0–100), and the NPSS total was 67.98+/-8.68 (16–80). Knowledge and  self-efficacy were positively but very weakly correlated (r=0.121, p=0.040). Internal consistency was KR-20=0.78 for the knowledge test and α=0.81 for the NPSS total. Conclusions: Nursing students demonstrated generally high levels of PIVC-related knowledge and professional self-efficacy. Nevertheless, the high demand for further training indicates a need for targeted, guideline-aligned educational strategies—particularly for dressing practices, hub antisepsis, and vessel-preserving gauge selection—to translate knowledge into safe clinical performance. Keywords: Keywords: Peripheral intravenous catheter, self efficacy, evidence-based nursing