ABSTRACT
Communication is one of the most essential needs of human beings.Mechanical ventilation compromises patients' ability to communicate their needs. This research was conducted to assess the effect of three methods of communication with patients receiving mechanical on their satisfaction in Arak hospitals 1389[2010]. This randomized clinical trial was conducted in Intensive Care Units of Valey Asr, Amir Al Momenin and Ghods hospitals in Arak, Iran. 60 patients who were admitted in ICU and were receiving mechanical ventilation were included in the study. These patients were randomly allocated in three groups.During a 12 hours period researcher used I method of communication for each group of these patients. These mrthods of communication included :A: Communicational board [words and letters]. B: Communicational board [pictures and letters]. C: The conventional method. Data were collected using a questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of three', parts: demographic variables, medical history and satisfaction with communication method.Validity of the instrument was assured by content validity index.. Cronbach's alpha was used to determine the reliability of the iinstrument. SPSS, version 16 was used for data analysis. There was not a significant difference among three groups in terms of age, gender, mean length of stay in the ICU before mechanical ventilation treatment. The mean satisfaction scores were 2.58. 3.83 and 4.10 for conventional communication group, communication board A and words and letters] and communication board B[pictures and letters] respectively. There was a significant difference among three groups in terms of their satisfaction with communication method [P0.00l].The one way analysis of variance indicated that using communication boards A and B significantly increased patient satisfaction. Using communication boards facilitates communication with mechanically ventilated patients and increase their satisfaction