Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, cilt.58, 2020 (SCI-Expanded)
© 2020Background: Patients on mechanical ventilation are likely to suffer stress, which may lead to problems of patient-ventilator synchrony, anxiety, haemodynamic instability and decrease in comfort levels. Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of preoperative education regarding haemodynamic parameters, patient comfort and anxiety, and patient-ventilator synchrony provided to patients before they undergo cardiac surgery. Methods: The study is a randomised, controlled clinical study, it was conducted at the cardiovascular surgery clinic of a teaching hospital in Turkey. The study was conducted on 200 patients who underwent cardiac surgery and received mechanical ventilation. Using the block randomisation method, the patients were grouped into intervention and control groups, with 100 patients in each group. The patients in the intervention group received preoperative education on mechanical ventilation and the usage of the communication panel that patients under mechanical ventilation use to communicate with health personnel, the control group received no education. Data was collected while the patients were on mechanical ventilation support in the intensive care unit on their second postoperative day. Results: The difference between the patient-ventilator synchrony levels of the patients to the mechanical ventilation treatment in the intervention and control groups was found statistically significant (p < 0.05). The differences between the haemodynamic measurements of the patients in both groups, which were measured after the patients woke up and before extubation, were also statistically significant (p < 0.05). Median scores obtained by the patients in the intervention group on the Perianaesthesia Comfort Questionnaire and the Tension-Anxiety subscale of the Profile of Mood Scale were 5.7 and 2.0, respectively. The median scores obtained by the patients in the control group on the same scales were 4.1 and 24.0, respectively. Conclusions: Compared to the participants in the control group, the participants in the intervention group who received education had higher patient-ventilator synchrony, comfort and haemodynamic stability levels, as well as lower anxiety levels when they were under mechanical ventilation, showing that results were better in the intervention group than the control group.