Background: Liver transplantation is considered one of the most complex procedures in modern surgery. Its success depends on a complete hospital infrastructure, in addition to a multidisciplinary team skilled to care for severely debilitated and immunosuppressed patients.
Aim of work: Assessment of needs and perception of patients undergoing liver transplantation. Design: A descriptive study used in this study on 30 patients. Setting: Liver transplantation out patients' clinic and liver transplantation department at Nasser Institute for Research and Treatment Hospital. The sample: A purposive sample of (30) patients with end stage chronic liver disease undergoing liver transplant were included in this study. Tools: two tools were used, Tool I: Structured interview questionnaire composed of 2 parts: part 1 includes: a) demographic data: It includes (age, gender, marital status, residence, level of education and occupation). b) Medical history of the patients: to assess the present medical history of the patients. Part 2: Needs assessment questionnaire: it was developed by the researcher to assess the needs of patients undergoing liver transplant. It is divided into 4 parts: Physiological needs, Psychological needs, Social needs, and learning needs. Tool II: Treatment Effects Questionnaire (TEQ). To assess patients' perception regarding their treatment after transplantation. Results: The present study revealed that the highest patients' needs were the psychological needs (87.3%) followed by social needs (71.5%) and physiological needs (48.2%) while learning needs were at lowest (36%). and (63%) of them were disagree regarding to treatment Effects Questionnaire (TEQ). Conclusion: The highest patients' needs were the psychological needs followed by social needs and physiological needs while learning needs were at lowest. As regard to total mean of perception, less than two third of the studied patients had a positive perception regarding towards treatment after liver transplantation. Recommendations: Learning guidelines should be provided for patients undergoing liver transplantation starting from admission until discharge from the hospital. A simple booklet should be provided for patients undergoing liver transplantation including all aspects such as medications, nutrition, early warning signs of infection and its prevention, daily activity, and follow-up.