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Abstract Hemodialysis is the most common form of renal replacement therapy, for the treatment of patients with acute and chronic renal failure. Although, it extends patients’ lives, it causes a lot of restrictions that can have negative effects on patients’ physical, mental, social, and economic well-being. All these challenges can only be overcome if patients receive comprehensive care from qualified nurses during the pre-dialysis, intra-dialysis, and post-dialysis phases. Patients need particularly trained nursing staff and specialized nursing care, thus it’s important to regularly assess nurses’ practices in the care of hemodialysis patients to make sure patients receive appropriate and high-quality nursing care, resulting in improved health outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess nurses’ practices regarding care of patients undergoing hemodialysis. Descriptive design was utilized for this study. This study was conducted at two settings in Alexandria. The first setting is hemodialysis unit of EL-Mowasat University Hospital. The second setting is hemodialysis unit of the Medical Research Institute Hospital. A convenience sample of 50 nurses working at the above-mentioned settings and giving direct care to hemodialysis patients was selected (25 nurses from each hospital). Tool of the study: One tool was used for data collection: observational checklist regarding nursing care of patients undergoing hemodialysis. This tool was adapted by the researcher. It’s already translated into the Arabic language. This tool comprised three parts: Part I: Nurses’ socio-demographic characteristics: This part includes socio-demographic data of hemodialysis nurses such as name, age, sex, marital status, level of education, years of experience in hemodialysis unit, attendance of pre-service and in- service training programs about hemodialysis, and numbers attending training programs. Part II: Hemodialysis nurses’ practices observational checklist: It is divided into three phases: Phase I: Shows the number and percent distribution of the studied nurses’ according to their practices before hemodialysis procedure. (n=50) Phase II: Illustrates percentage distribution of nurses’practices during hemodialysis procedure (n=50) Phase III: Percentage distribution of nurses’practices after hemodialysis procedure. (n=50) Part III: Nurses compliance with infection control measures in the hemodialysis unit: This part includes hemodialysis nurses’ practices regarding infection control measures such as hand hygiene, wearing personal protective equipment, isolation precautions, waste disposal, handling unclean linens, dealing with spillage of blood and body fluid, needle stick and sharp injury and disinfect or sterilization of equipment. Each nurse was observed three times on the morning and evening shift by using the study tool to assess her practices regarding care of patients undergoing hemodialysis. Data was collected in period of five months from 13/1/2022 to 15/6/2022 then analyzed and tabulated. The main results of the present study were: - The majority (82.0%) of the studied nurses were females, half (50.0%) of nurses aged 30 years to less than 40 years, nearly two thirds (66.0%) of the studied nurses were married and less than two-thirds (60.0%) of the studied nurses had diploma of secondary nursing school. - Less than two-thirds (62.0%) of the studied nurses had six years or more of work experience at hemodialysis units, the majority (80.0%) of the studied nurses attended in-service training programs. - Nearly two-thirds (66.0%) of the studied nurses had poor practices level before hemodialysis procedure. Moreover, 18.0% of them had fair practices. While, 16.0% of nurses had good practices. - Half (50.0%) of the studied nurses had poor practice level during hemodialysis procedure. Furthermore, 40.0% of them had fair practices. While, 10.0% had good practices. - More than half (52.0%) of nurses had poor practices after hemodialysis procedure. Additionally, 40.0% of them had fair practice level, and 8.0% had good practices level. - Less than half (44.0%) of the studied nurses had fair practices and compliance level with infection control measures at hemodialysis units. Furthermore, less than one thirds (42.0%) of them had poor practices. While, 14.0% of nurses had good practices. - In relation to overall nurses’ practices at HD units, more than half (54.0%) of the studied nurses had poor practices. Moreover, more than one-third (38.0%) of them had fair practices. While, 8.0% of the studied nurses had good practices. - No statistically significant relation was found between gender, attendance of pre-service and in-service training programs about hemodialysis, number of courses attended and nurses’ overall practices in hemodialysis units. - A statistically significant relation was found between age, marital status, level of education, years of experience and nurses’ overall practices at hemodialysis units |