Authors (including presenting author) :
Ho ML(1), Chu WPR (1), Ku SY(1), Lam HT(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Princess Margaret Hospital
Introduction :
Oral care is essential in intubated paediatric patients. It is crucial for nursing staff in PICU to be equipped with specific knowledge and skills to ensure effective nursing procedure. Studies reported that nursing guidelines would be favourable in nursing education. However, guidelines of oral care applicable to ventilated paediatric patients were lacking in our unit.
Objectives :
To standardize nursing practice and enhance nursing training on oral care in PICU ventilated cases through developing oral care guideline and assessment tool by using EBP approach and to evaluate long term effectiveness of the programme and maintain high standard oral care in PICU by continuous monitoring on staff compliance.
Methodology :
The enhancement program for oral care in PICU ventilated patients targeted all PICU nursing staff and employed the following designs: (1) A “Pre-test” vs “Post-test” to test staff attitude and knowledge on oral care, (2) Educational talk on oral care in PICU ventilated case, (3) Introduction of a new guideline for oral care in PICU ventilated cases based on evidence, (4) Introduction of a cue card storing in PICU individual injection trolleys as an oral assessment tool, (5) Demonstration and return-demonstration of proper oral care procedure, and (6) Continuous monitoring on staff compliance by PICU team leader or supervisor.
Result & Outcome :
Enhancement program commenced from early January 2018 till end of April 2018 with total 25 participants. Post test results showed an overall 100% improvement in staff attitude than pre-test. And knowledge level of nursing staff was shown to have improvement in post-test than pre-test, with mean score rose from 68% in pre-test to 99% in post-test. New guideline for oral care in PICU ventilated case and new oral assessment tool were developed since early January 2018. And by the end of April 2018, 99% of return-demonstration showed high standard oral care in ventilated cases. Continuous monitoring showed 100% staff compliance.
