Authors (including presenting author) :
Tse Gregory, Wong Melody, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery Tracheostomy Team
Affiliation :
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong
Introduction :
Tracheostomy is a surgical opening through the neck into the trachea to maintain patent airway. Patients who suffer from acute respiratory failure with the need of prolonged mechanical ventilation, upper airway obstruction/fail to wean off mechanical ventilation will require a tracheostomy placement. A comprehensive tracheostomy care incorporation of infection control COVID-19 should be developed.
Objectives :
To develop nursing care in managing patients with tracheostomy under COVID-19 pandemic
Methodology :
Education talks, which were organized in June 2021, included the introduction, tracheostomy care, the ‘TRACHE’ care approach, emergency management and infection control measures under COVID-19. Attendants were limited due to social distancing, a live 30-minute education talk was recorded, streamed via Zoom meeting which was promoted and spread among staff from June to July 2021. Nurses were welcomed to participate in the two video sessions and review the training kit. 32 nurses (n=32) in total participated in the training. To assess the competency, confidence and satisfaction of participants, an online Google form were adopted for evaluation.
Result & Outcome :
In pursuit of knowledge exchange, education talk was organized. The effectiveness of the talk was evaluated by a set of pretest-posttest MCQ & questionnaire regarding self-confidence/satisfaction. With knowledge assessment test, there was an overall improvement in the knowledge of tracheostomy care, p-value <0.001, a significant improvement in the score of pre-test (mean:8.50, SD:1.90) and post-test (mean:10.25, SD:0.67). From the questionnaire collected, nurses’ self-reported confidence and satisfaction in performing tracheostomy care were significantly enhanced after education. The mean scores of self-confidence and self-satisfaction were significantly increased from 27.50 to 33.41 (p<0.05) and from 16.25 to 23.50 (p<0.008) respectively. 95% of participants suggested that education was useful and effective in consolidating the knowledge into clinical practice. 90% viewed the teaching content was interactive. With new nursing care plan, 90% of interviewees strongly agreed that the new care plan is user-friendly in improving tracheostomy care. Due to social distancing, there was a limitation of seating capacity. Holding several talks to nurses was time-consuming. However, Zoom provided a communication platform that allowed live recording. New presentations to the audience during the education talk was useful. Nurses could benefit from the talk and enhance their skills, knowledge and confidence on tracheostomy care. It is recommended to develop a team of tracheostomy nurses to optimize patient safety.
