Nurses’ Performance Regarding Care of Patients with Tracheostomy

Abstract

Background : Tracheostomy is a surgical procedure which consists of making an opening direct to airway through an incision in the trachea. The most common indications for tracheostomy are acute respiratory failure and need for prolonged mechanical ventilation representing two thirds of all cases and traumatic or catastrophic neurologic insult requiring airway, or mechanical ventilation or both. Nursing staff must be understand the immediate postoperative and long-term management of patients with tracheostomy to provide safe and competent care for these patients. Aim: This study aimed to assess nurses' performance regarding care of patients with tracheosotmy. Design: A descriptive design was utilized for the conduction of this study. Setting: the study was carried in general intensive care unit, which is affiliated to Sohag University hospital. Subjects: A convenience sample of all the available staff nurses of (50) nurses working in general intensive care unit.Tools: Three tools, nurses ' self-administered questionnaire,, nurses' practice observational checklist and nurses' attitude questionnaire. Result: The studied nurses were having unsatisfactory total level of knowledge regarding care of patients with tracheostomy, unsatisfactory level of practice and had negative attitude regarding care of patients with tracheostomy. Conclusion: There were unsatisfactory level of performance among nurses under the study. Recommendations: The study should be replicated on large sample and in different hospitals setting in order to generalize the results.