The Nursing Directorate of Koç University Hospital aims to deliver superior nursing care and facilities to promote high level of satisfaction among patients and staff members. For this purpose, the management and training teams of the directorate adhere to international quality standards.

From the moment a patient walks into our hospital, they are assisted by our nurses in order to meet their individual healthcare needs and expectations. Patients visiting our hospital enjoy evidence-based, compassionate and human-centric nursing services that have been designed within the framework of nursing and medical practices. 

Based on our quality indicators, we aim to minimize hospital stays, ensure infection control, evaluate nutritional status of patients and prevent incidence of falling and pressure sores. A quantifiable approach of excellence drives our nursing services.

Principles like accountability, recognition of the value of human life, compliance to deontological concepts, a compassionate approach of care and acting as knowledgeable, reliable and morally robust individuals constitute the basic behavioral basis for our nurses, who are an integral part of a multidisciplinary healthcare team.
 

Service Subcategories of the Nursing Directorate

Our nurses serve patients in all medical areas of the hospital, including:
  • Outpatient and inpatient wards
  • Emergency service
  • Intensive care wards
  • Operating rooms
  • Organ and stem cell transplantation units
  • Medical oncology
  • Radiation oncology
  • Gamma knife center
  • Hyperbaric oxygen therapy center
  • Translational Medical Practice and Research Center
  • Nursing management
  • Clinical supervisor
  • Administrative supervisor
  • Chief nurse
  • Nursing team leader
  • Internal medicine ward nurse
  • Surgical ward nurse
  • Hematology and oncology nurse
  • Organ transplantation nurse
  • Bone marrow transplantation nurse
  • Intensive care nurse
  • Operating room nurse
  • Neonatal and pediatrics nurse
  • Obstetrics nurse
  • Interventional nurse
  • Training and special branch nurse
  • Training development nurse
  • Infection control nurse
  • Diabetes nurse
  • Stoma and wound care nurse
  • Transfusion nurse
  • Nutrition nurse
  • Workplace nurse
  • Dialysis nurse
  • Associate specialist department nurses
All staff members of nursing services go through a basic orientation training, which covers theoretical and practical matters that they might encounter in a clinical setting. Basic life support training is also offered and updated annually. In addition to mandatory training courses specific to each department, nursing staff members attend inhouse as well as external training as needed. 

The Nursing Directorate of Koç University Hospital, as part of the Vehbi Koç Foundation Healthcare Institutions, collaborates with Koç University School of Nursing, SANERC (Semahat Arsel Nursing Education and Research Center) and RMK AIMES (Rahmi Koç Advanced Interventional Medical Education and Simulation Center) in various fields. 

Each year, we jointly organize a Nursing Week seminar, a much-anticipated annual event that contributes to the profession of nursing and invites prominent names from national and international circles.
The “İstanbul Intensive Care Nursing Days” is another notable event that takes place biannually.
Nursing in a modern sense started in Turkey in the wake of the World War I. Admiral Bristol Nursing School, a significant pillar of nursing education, became the first school in Turkey to train nurses. The sustained success and constant improvement in the field of nursing education and healthcare that spurted after foundation of Admiral Bristol Nursing School on May 20th, 1920, and then Admiral Bristol Hospital on August 20th, 1920, was channeled by Vehbi Koç Foundation Healthcare Institutions into the foundations of Koç University School of Medicine and Koç University School of Nursing.  

At the time Admiral Bristol Nursing School was founded (1920-1999), the total term of education was 2 years and 6 months. The term was extended to 3 years in 1929 and then to 4 years in 1957. Nursing education at Koç University started off with a Vocational School of Healthcare Services in 1998. The Nursing College was established in 2005, followed with the Nursing School in 2016. As the first nursing school of Turkey, the institution raised leading nurses and set an example for other nursing schools to be founded over time. Esteemed Esma Deniz, one of the first 5 graduates of Admiral Bristol Nursing School in the year 1923, went on to found the Turkish Nurses Association in 1943, where she served as the Chair for 19 years and had the association acknowledged as an active member of the International Council of Nurses in 1949. Following in these footsteps, the Turkish Intensive Care Nurses Association was founded in 1992. Nurses of Vehbi Koç Foundation Healthcare Institutions have always been proud of Esma Deniz, forever an exemplary nurse and unyielding defender of women’s rights. 

Contributions of Vehbi Koç Foundation to the profession of nursing started after launch of the Nursing Fund in 1974. The Nursing fund has constantly contributed to education of nurses by means of conferences and seminars as well as publications and course books. So far, over 2000 nurses have been granted scholarships through the fund. Recognizing the essential value added by robust nursing education to a hospital’s quality of service, Vehbi Koç Foundation has supported efforts in the field of nursing at all times. Under the umbrella of the foundation, SANERC (Semahat Arsel Nursing Education and Research Center) delivered the first Intensive Care Nursing Course approved by the Ministry of Health. SANERC has been supporting nurses with national and international training courses, education events, symposiums and conventions since 1992 as well. 
 
After completion of preparations, Koç University Hospital started admitting patients in September 2014. Our Nursing Services Director, a member of the Admiral Bristol school, and the highly experienced leaders at American Hospital have been marching forward on our journey since the foundation. With an ever expanding staff of nurses and training and administration teams, the Directorate of Nursing Services has been promoting superior patient care in line with the mission and vision of Koç University Research and Education Hospital, and attained a privileged position in the field by training valuable students and leading research activities. 

Honorable Mrs. Semahat Arsel, Chair of the Vehbi Koç Foundation Board of Directors, has always contributed and continues to contribute to the development and empowerment of the nursing profession. As nurses of Koç University, we are infinitely grateful to the Koç Family and Mrs. Semahat Arsel.
  • Nursing
  • Midwifery
  • Emergency medicine
  • Anesthesiology
  • Medical technician
  • Number of medication errors
  • Medication administering errors
  • Rate of falling patients
  • Rate of adherence to the falling prevention protocol
  • Rate of complete blue code incident forms
  • Rate of correctly labeled medications drawn into injectors
  • Rate of compliance to patient identity policy
  • SBAR compliance ratio
  • Final check ratio
  • Process control compliance ratio
  • Compliance to hand hygiene
  • Pressure sore occurrence ratio
  • Pressure sore occurrence ratio under intensive care
  • Compliance to the hypoglycemia protocol
  • Compliance to isolation measures
  • Patient satisfaction ratios
Every medical unit expands their scope of knowledge each day, while the manner in which healthcare services are offered rapidly evolve. In this regard, it is essential for nursing services to catch up with this dynamism by arranging training and development courses and enabling employees to constantly update their own knowledge.
 
Training needs of our staff members are determined on the basis of interviews with unit managers, requirements to use new devices and equipment, reports from the risk management system, updates, recurrent training requirements and staff feedback. Our professional training nurses accordingly plan training activities.

Below are some of our routine training programs:
  • Basic nursing orientation certification program
  • CPR (basic life support) and recertification 
  • ACLS (advanced life support) and recertification
  • Basic ECG
  • Intensive care nursing certification program
  • NRP (neonatal resuscitation) training (Ministry of Health)
  • Basic pediatrics training
  • Departmental surgical training
  • Departmental intensive care training
  • Operating room training
  • Anesthesiology training
  • Internal medicine training
  • Stem cell transplantation unit training
  • Nursing team leader training
  • ECG and lethal arrythmias training
  • Compassion fatigue training
  • Baby-friendly hospital practices

Basic Nursing Orientation Program
The theoretical and practical orientation training of new nursing staff members includes the topics of corporate mission and vision, nursing practices, basic life support, infection and isolation measures, device usage, patient safety and communication. Nursing skill drills and scenario roleplays take place at the OSCE laboratory, where models are used for this purpose.

A test is conducted prior to and after the training program.
 
Department-specific Orientation Programs
  • Emergency nursing
  • Intensive care nursing    
  • Pediatrics nursing    
  • Operating room nursing practices
  • Anesthesiology technician training program

In-service Training for Employees
  • Patient safety
  • Personal protective equipment and spill kit usage
  • Environmental health
  • Hand washing
  • Drug safety
  • Supporting gender equality for my country
  • Emergencies
 
Training for New Nursing Staff Members
  • Basic nursing orientation program
  • Basic life support
  • Skill development training
  • Scenario applications
  • Intensive care orientation 
  • Operating room orientation
  • Pediatrics orientation
  • Departmental regular training sessions
  • Basic life support recertification
  • Basic pediatrics training
  • Departmental surgical training
  • Intensive care training
  • Operating room training
  • Anesthesiology training
  • Internal medicine training
  • Stem cell transplantation unit training
  • Nursing team leader training
  • ECG and lethal arrythmias 
  • Compassion fatigue
  • Baby-friendly hospital practices
 
Trainings for Patients/Patients’ Relatives
  • Patient safety
  • Blood transfusion process
  • Enteral nutrition process
  • Pressure sore prevention and care
  • Pediatric/adult diabetes training
  • Stoma training
As the Nursing Directorate of Koç University Hospital, we collaborate with the Human Resources department and take into consideration the following points with regard to recruitment and performance evaluation:
  • Adoption of modern nursing philosophy and concepts
  • Embracing the institution’s and nursing directorate’s mission, vision, values, policies and guidelines; and instilling these into team members under one’s responsibility
  • Striving to improve the institution’s and the nursing profession’s image at all times, setting an example as a role model to colleagues and team members under one’s responsibility by means of verbal and nonverbal communication
  • Being enthusiastic to ensure quality tailored and compassionate nursing care, assuming complete responsibility in care, being able to develop projects, keeping track of the professional literature for this purpose
  • Promoting and sustaining sound open communication with other healthcare team members and colleagues 
  • Promoting teamwork and leadership qualities, acting as a representative of the senior hospital management, being able to solve problems and issues of the staff members under one’s responsibility within the confines of one’s own unit, appropriately reporting unresolved problems along with recommendations
  • Making sensible and objective decisions, striving to constantly improve oneself and colleagues
  • Applications to our vacant positions and performance ratings are taken into consideration when promoting employees and transferring them among different departments. 
Net 45 hours weekly. Working schedules vary depending on the operations of each department. Two 4 x 12-hour shifts (day/night) are applied for the emergency service, intensive care units and inpatient wards.
You may visit the Human Resources page of our website for detailed information.