Effect of Nursing Interventional Program on Stressors for Patients undergoing Cardiac Surgery

Background: Although cardiac surgery is still the treatment of choice for large number of patients. It is considered a stressful, unwanted, life-threatening experience for many patients. Also, intensive care unit is known to be highly stressful for many patients. Improving patients cardiac and intensive care unit stressors require effective and satisfactory interventions by the nurses that help in stress relief. Aim: Evaluate the effect of nursing interventional program on ‎stressors for patients undergoing cardiac ‎surgery. Design: A quasi-experimental design was utilized in this study (pre/posttest for nurses and study/control for patients) to achieve the aim of this study. Setting: The study was conducted at Academic Institute for heart surgery affiliated to Ain Shames University Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt. Subject: A convenient sample of all staff nurses (50) working in cardiothoracic care units. In addition, a purposive sample of (60) adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery was selected according to certain inclusion criteria and was divided into two control and study groups. Tools: Tool (I) Self-administered nurses’ questionnaire, Tool (II) nurses’ practice observational checklist, Tool (III) Patient assessment record, Tool (IV) Revised Cardiac Surgery Stressors Scale (RCSSS) and Tool (V) ‎ The Intensive Care Unit Environmental Stressor Scale (ICUESS).Results: The results of this study showed that, the total studied nurses’ satisfactory level of knowledge and practice regarding caring of patients undergoing cardiac surgery improved post implementation of the designed nursing interventional program compared to pre (68%versus 90%) and (72% versus 94%) respectively. Furthermore, patients' total mean score of cardiac stressors and intensive care unit stressors improved post the designed nursing interventional program implementation compared to pre‎ (21.64±7.4 ‎versus‎ 14.05±5.3‎) and (‎21±6.84‎ versus‎ 14.93±5.2‎) respectively. Conclusion: Implementation of nursing interventional program on stressors for patients undergoing cardiac surgery had a statistically significant positive effect on level of nurses′ performance (knowledge and practice) and patients′ stressors. Recommendations: Implementing the designed nursing interventional program for nurses caring for patients undergoing cardiac surgery in different cardiac care units of different hospitals to improve their performance and patients̓ stressors at intensive care unit.