1Nursing Tutor, Himalayan College of Nursing, SRHU, Dehradun, Uarakhand, India
2Assistant Professor, Himalayan College of Nursing, SRHU, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
3Associate Professor, Himalayan College of Nursing, SRHU, Dehradun, Uarakhand, India
*Corresponding author: Mr. Mahalingam Venkateshan, Assistant Professor, Himalayan College of Nursing, SRHU, Jolly Grant, Doiwala (Post) Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, 248140, Email: mvenkatesh@srhu.edu.in, milkymaha2007@gmail.com
Online published on 8 July, 2016.
Effective communication is one of the basis of professional nursing practices and the art of caring holistically for patients, especially in Intensive Care Unit.
To evaluate current communication pattern between ICU nurses and altered level of conscious patients, explore the Nurses Knowledge, and also find the need for Structured Nursing care Protocol on communication with altered level of conscious patients.
A Exploratory descriptive design was used for study the knowledge and practice of the nurses in intensive care unit. Selected forty communication events were observed and the same nurses were enumerated to study their knowledge. The nurses who were caring more than one patient and the patient GCS>8 were excluded from the study.
The practice score of the staff nurses were 10.08±3.24 which is ranged from 1 to 32. This practice score denotes nurses were rarely communication with altered level of conscious patients. The knowledge score of the staff nurses was 13.05±2.38 which is ranged from 1 to 24 also depicts that they were having average awareness.
The present communication pattern between nurses with altered level of conscious patients and nurse's knowledge score, indicating the great need of Structured Nursing Care protocol regarding communication with altered level conscious patients, where high-quality communication is a key determinant and facilitator of patient-centered care.
Altered level of consciousness, Communication, knowledge, Nursing care Protocol, Practice
