Outcome of Designed Guidelines for Nurses caring of Patients Undergoing Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

Abstract

Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy is a diagnostic and therapeutic procedure that provides good view of the mucosal surfaces of the upper gastrointestinal tract and management of many gastrointestinal conditions. Improving the outcomes of upper gastrointestinal endoscopic patients requires the best efforts of nurses in multiple settings and roles, working collaboratively with other health team. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome of designed guidelines for nurses caring of patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Design: A quasi-experimental design was utilized to achieve the aim of this study. Setting: The study was conducted at gastrointestinal endoscopy unit at Ain Shams University Hospital. Subject: A convenient sample of all staff nurses working in gastrointestinal endoscopic unit, in addition to, a purposive sample of 60 adult patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy were recruited. According to certain inclusion criteria the patients were selected and divided into control and study groups. Tools of data collection: Self-administered questionnaire for nurses′ practice, observational checklist and Patients’ outcome evaluation sheet. Results: The results of this study showed that, total satisfactory level of nurses' knowledge and practice regarding caring of patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy significantly improved post the designed guidelines implementation compared to pre (66.7% versus 23.3%) and (56.7% versus 16.7%) respectively. Furthermore, patients' satisfaction level significantly improved post the designed guidelines implementation compared to pre (64.0% versus 44.0%). Conclusion: The designed guidelines for nurses caring of patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy had statistically significant positive effect on outcome regarding level of nurses′ performance (knowledge and practice) and patients′ satisfaction level, but the results didn′t reveal any statistically significant difference between control and study groups regarding complications. Recommendations: The study recommended the importance of implementing the designed educational guidelines for nurses caring of patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in different endoscopic units of different hospitals to improve their performance and patients̓ outcomes.