Review of Compliance with the Standard Care for Tracheostomy and Endotracheal Tube in Nurses Working in Intensive Care Units in Ahwaz Golestan Hospital

One of the fundamental steps in the intensive care unit is maintaining an open airway, and if the procedure is not done properly for patients, it is accompanied with many complications. Thus the aim of this study was to evaluate compliance with the standard care of tracheostomy and endotracheal tube in nurses working in intensive care units in Golestan hospital in Ahvaz. in this descriptive cross-sectional study, by the completion of observational checklist containing 31 questions relating to the care standards of endotracheal tube and tracheostomy and a questionnaire, demographic information of 72 nurses working in the intensive care unit in Ahwaz Golestan hospital in 2015 were asked. To verify the validity of the questionnaire, the viewpoints of professors of nursing were used and the reliability of the questionnaire was verified by agreement between the present observers. Eventually, the data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann Whitney U and Pearson correlation coefficients using SPSS version 20. the mean score of nurses in standard care of endotracheal tube and tracheostomy was 51/10 +/- 45/78 respectively. Also significant positive relationship was observed between age and occupational characteristics of nurses and their performance in the care of the airways (05/0>P). According to the results, despite of optimal performance of personnel, some nursing practices in the care of artificial airway are not done properly which need more control and supervision. Therefore, it is necessary to provide regular training programs in the field of artificial airway and optimal care in critically ill patients is crucial.