Nurses Perception toward Using a New Eight Vital Signs Chart at ICUs

Abstract

Background: Assessment of the traditional vital signs at ICUs as temperature, pulse, respiration, blood pressure and oxygen saturation are inadequate to determine patients’ clinical condition deteriorating; however assessment of eight vital signs should be included in a routine nursing assessment to improve patients’ outcomes for appropriate nursing diagnosis on proper time. Aim: To assess nurses’ perception toward using a new eight vital signs chart at ICUs Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study design was used in this study composed of 45 nurses from all ICUs at the Beni-Suef University Hospital from November 2015 to January 2017, data were collected using structured interview to assess nurses’ perception toward using a new eight vital signs chart at ICUs. Results: The study findings demonstrate the distribution of all nurses’ perception items and found more than two third of the study sample (68.9%) were agreed to use eight vital signs, and almost all nurses had fantastic perception to eight vital signs, moreover about (84.4%) had adequate knowledge regarding assessment of pain, level of consciousness, urine output, as well as more than half of study sample reported the degree of importance is extremely important to assess additional three vital signs with basic vital signs (55.6%). However barrier may face nurses to assess pain, level of consciousness and urine output were reported high percentage (91.1%) and (97.8%) agreed to use the new eight vital signs chart at ICUs and defiantly it will help for better design of Nursing Diagnosis. Conclusion: ICUs’ nurses strongly agreed to apply new 8 vital signs chart at ICUs for meticulous designing of nursing diagnosis of patients’ clinically unstable. Recommendation: The study is recommended to consider the importance of application a new eight vital signs chart instead of traditional five vital signs and generalized it in the hospital documentation system.