THE EFFECT OF CLINICAL AUDIT PROCESS ON THE TRACHEOTOMY SUCTIONING SKILLS OF NURSES WORKING IN THE CRITICAL CARE UNITS (ICU)

How can nurses improve the airway suctioning expedite recovery? This study is
performed to assess the effect of clinical audit process on the tracheostomy suctioning skill of nurses
working in the critical care units in AJA hospitals in Tehran.
Material & Methods: In this randomized clinical trial study, 135 critical care nurses in AJA hospitals
in 2013-2014 were selected by simple randomized method, and they were randomly allocated to the
intervention and control groups. By applying the five-steps clinical audit, the intervention was carried
out in the experimental group.To determine tracheotomy suctioning skill, before and after nurse’s
intervention, the researcher made a checklist. Face and content validity and reliability of the checklist
has been confirmed (α=0.78). The data were analyzed by SPSS software version 21.
Results: Before intervention, T-student test didn’t show significant difference in the mean of total score
in the tracheostomy suctioning skill between two groups (P=0.73). But after the intervention, the same
test showed significant difference in mean of total score of the program (P=0.0001).