Perceived needs of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery during perioperative period

Introduction: Perioperative care is nursing care provided by perioperative nurses to surgical patients during the perioperative period. Its role is important as patients especially those who had undergone coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery encounter high levels of psychological and physical stress. Objective: To determine the needs of CABG patients throughout the perioperative period and how well those needs were met. Methods: This is a cross sectional descriptive survey. A total of 88 patients who had undergone coronary artery bypass graft were recruited through census sampling. The instrument which was adapted and used with permission for this study was “Survey of Patient Needs and Experiences during the Perioperative Period’ questionnaire (Davis et al., 2014). Results: The patients perceived the perioperative needs in the post-anaesthesia care unit area to be the most important (M = 2.89, SD = 0.06). Perioperative needs which were rated the highest for each of the four time periods were “Having information about the surgical procedure itself”, “Having your family member or significant other with you in the pre-surgical area complications”, “Being treated with respect and with dignity by hospital personnel” and “Having your family member or significant other visit you in the recovery room”. Overall, patients perceived their needs during perioperative period to be partly met (M = 2.73, SD = 0.07) with post-anaesthesia care unit area being rated the highest (M = 2.81, SD = 0.06). Conclusion: The results of this study highlighted the perceived needs of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery throughout their perioperative period. In order to improve the quality of perioperative care for patients, nurses need to take into consideration the important needs identified by the patients and address the items which were not meeting the needs of the patients.

The level of knowledge and competency in the use of the Morse Fall Scale as an assessment tool in the prevention of patient falls

ntroduction: Patient falls has been identified as one of the major issues in today’s health care despite efforts taken in preventing such incidents from happening (Cox et al ., 2014). Patient falls can be prevented by using fall risk assessment tools such as Morse Fall Scale. Morse Fall Scale was implemented in the year 2014 in a private hospital in Malaysia but the patient fall rate did not decrease. Objective: The research objective is to determine the nurses’ level of knowledge and competency in the use of the Morse Fall Scale as an assessment tool in the prevention of patient falls. Method: A quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional research design was conducted with 100 registered nurses from a private hospital in Selangor, Malaysia. Universal sampling technique was used to recruit the nurses. Results: The registered nurses had a moderate level of knowledge (M = 7.72; SD = 1.72) and competency (scoring Morse Fall Scale, M = 4.75; SD = 1.26; planning intervention, M = 13.19; SD = 1.89) in using the Morse Fall Scale. Conclusion: It is recommended that a review of the training programme on the use of the Morse Fall Scale be implemented in a more structured manner.

Factors influencing nursing students’ decision to choose nursing

Background: Nurses are the “front line” staff in most health systems and their contribution is recognised as essential in meeting development goals and delivering safe and effective care (ICN, 2007). Nurses are in high demand not only in developed countries but also in developing countries like Malaysia. However, more than 70% of Malaysian hospitals currently do not have adequate nursing staff. At least 174,000 nurses need to be trained by 2020 to meet WHO’s nurse-to-patient ratio of 1:200. The purpose of this study is to identify the main factors that influence the nursing students’ decision to choose nursing as their career. Method: A descriptive study guided by Self Determination Theory was used for this study. A 29- item questionnaire adapted from McCabe, Nowak and Mullen (2005) was distributed to all students in a nursing college (n=117). Results: The five main reasons for choosing nursing as a career were “ability to help others”, “training was provided on the job”, “ability to work closely with people”, “parental advice”, and “accommodation was provided while training”. The top three main domains that influenced the nursing students’ decision to choose nursing as their career include “travel opportunities of nursing”, “intrinsic attraction of nursing” and “immediacy of support on entry to nursing”. A total of 19 (0.2%) will not choose nursing if given a chance. The main reasons were “want to take another course”, “no time to spend with family” and “nursing is a stressful job”. Conclusion: The findings of this study provided valuable information regarding motivating factors which attract the current generation to join nursing. It is of concern that items representing nurses’ image were not rated highly