EFFECTIVENESS OF EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTIONS ON NURSES' PRACTICES OF ORAL CARE IN CRITICALLY ILL PATIENTS AT TERTIARY CARE HOSPITALS, PESHAWAR.

Abstract

Introduction:

Intensive Care Units (ICUs) are the most sensitive departments in all health care systems where critically ill and unconscious patients are served. Effective ICU care, especially oral or mouth care for ICU patients, is one of the major responsibilities of critical care nurses. But for unconscious and intubated patients oral care becomes a challenging issue for nurses. Effective and evidence-based nurses’ practices can influence the provision of appropriate oral hygiene practices to these clients, but previous literature revealed that usually, nurses have lack of knowledge about evidence-based practice to provide appropriate oral care for critical patients.

Objective: 

To evaluate the effectiveness of educational intervention on nurses’ practices of oral care for critically ill patients at ICUS of Tertiary Care Hospital Peshawar

Methods:

A Quasi-experimental design was used to meet the objective of the study. A total of 108 nurses from ICUs of public sector teaching hospitals of Peshawar were selected. Pre-intervention Data were collected through a validated self-administered questionnaire followed by an educational session. Post-intervention Data were collected through the same questionnaire at a one-month interval. The pre and post-intervention data were entered and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 24. An Independent T-Test was applied to find mean differences among control and experimental groups both in pre and post-intervention.

Results:

Among the 108 participating nurses (54 in the control and 54 in the experimental group), 66.67 % (n=72) were female, and 33.33%( n=36) were male. The average age of the research participants was 29.51 years, with a standard deviation of 5.80 years. Among the total participants, 48.10% (n=52) had diploma in nursing, 46.30% (n=50) had a  BSN, and 5.6% (n=6) had a  BSN as a qualification. There was no significant relationship found between the pre-intervention practice score and the sleeted demographic variables. The pre-intervention practice mean score was 20.52±3.75, and the mean post-intervention practice score was 31.86±13.0.  The pre-intervention Practice mean score for the control group was 12.81±3.18, and the pre-intervention Practice score for the experimental group was 33.63±1.56 but, there was no significant mean difference with a p-value of 0.061. The mean post-intervention Practice score for the control group was 12.81±3.18, and the mean post-intervention Practice score for the experimental group was 33.63±1.56, and there was a highly significant mean difference with a p-value of 0.001.

Conclusion:

According to the findings of this study, majority of the nurses were having poor pre intervention practices. The intervention was effective and had significantly improved the nurse’s practices. Comprehensive assessment of nurse’s practices followed by effective intervention to improve their practices of oral care for critically ill patients is crucial for nurses to enable them for effectively dealing with oral care at ICUs. This will lead to improve patient outcome and will decrease morbidity and mortality due poor oral hygiene