Paper
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
662
Occurrence of Bruises: An Explorative Study of Nurse's Knowledge and Practice Working in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi, Pakistan
Neemat Shamsuddin Ahmed, RN, BSc, Nursing Services, Medicine Areas, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan
| Learning Objective #1: To find the association of occurances of bruises with patients on anti coagulant therapy. |
| Learning Objective #2: To evaluate the impact of appropriate technique (I/V cannulation,blood sampling and medication adminitration)on reduction of bruises occurences. |
Occurrences and management of the bruises in acute hospital care setting is one of the major concerns for health care providers as it has an impact on skin integrity of patients and it takes time to regain normal skin integrity even after several days of its occurrence. A pre study data was collected to identify the severity of bruises in the hospital and it was found that total 501 bruises occurred in 282 patients. To explore the various factors causing bruises, a descriptive evaluative study was conducted at all inpatient units in The Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) to investigate and evaluate the reasons for occurrence of bruises and its corrective and preventive measures. The common causes of bruises found were multiple pricks (venous & arterial), derange coagulation, patient on anticoagulant therapy, inappropriate technique and not applying consistent pressure on the puncture site. It was identified that there was a gap in the staff knowledge and practices. After identifying the learning needs, teaching sessions were conducted for all the concerned staff followed by the training sessions. It was found through data that there was a significant improvement in the occurrence of bruises and the practices were much improved which in turn improved the quality of patient care.