Evaluation of early complications of patients who opened percutaneous tracheotomy in intensive care unit

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Tracheotomy has become widely used in intensive care units with the development of percutaneous techniques. In this widespread practice, the intensive care nurse takes an active role in the identification and management of early complications. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the early complications of patients who underwent percutaneous tracheotomy in intensive care units where nurses who have been trained and updated in advance provide care. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was carried out with 54 nurses working in the intensive care unit and 32 patients who underwent percutaneous tracheotomy. Developed by researchers in data collection according to the literature and guidelines; "Nurse Information Form", "Patient Information Form", "Tracheotomy Care Questionnaire Form", "Patient Follow-up Form", "Early Complication Follow-up Form" were used. Frequency distribution was used for categorical variables and descriptive statistics were used for numerical variables. In addition, non-parametric analyses were used. Pearson chi-square test and Fisher exact test were used to compare categorical variables. Statistical analysis was performed in SPSS v.21 program. FINDINGS: The mean score of the participant nurses' knowledge about tracheotomy care was 13.83±2.55 in the pretest and 16.61±1.61 in the posttest. There was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test mean scores (p<0.05). Among the patients (n=32), 6.3% had minor bleeding, 3.1% had major bleeding, and 3.1% had stoma infection. CONCLUSION: The knowledge level of intensive care nurses regarding tracheostomy care was at a moderate level and it was observed that their knowledge level increased after the training. The incidence of early complications was found to be low, consistent with the literature. It is important for nurses to receive regular training to increase the quality of care.