Chest drains: prevalence of insertion and ICU nurses’ knowledge of care

BACKGROUND: Even though literature revealed the problem of nurses' knowledge deficit regarding the care of chest drain in general, no study that investigated the prevalence of chest drains in ICUs and nurses' knowledge of chest drain among Jordanian nurses was found in the literature. This study aims were to describe the prevalence rate of chest drain insertion in Jordanian ICUs, and to evaluate Jordanian nurses’ level of knowledge regarding chest drain care. METHODS: Anon-experimental descriptive design using cross-sectional survey was used for evaluating nurses’ knowledge utilizing researchers-developed instrument. In addition, a retrospective chart review for patients who had chest drain in the previous three months to assess the prevalence rate of chest drain insertion. Data was analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program. RESULTS: The 3-month period prevalence of chest drain insertion was 8%. The most common indication for chest drains insertion was cardiac surgery (84.8%, n = 134) followed by pleural effusion (6.3%, n = 10). The results revealed that the mean score for nurses’ knowledge regarding care of chest drain was 15.7 out of 30 (52.3%), with the majority had insufficient or intermediate level of knowledge (47.6%, n = 107 vs. 51.1%, n = 115). The areas with least level of knowledge were in the troubleshooting (31.9%), and removal (39.5%). Nurses from private hospitals had significantly higher (M = 16, SD ± 2.77) level of knowledge (F[2, 222] = 8.467, p < .001) than nurses from other sectors. CONCLUSIONS: Chest drain is prevalent in Jordanian ICUs, which requires nurses to know how to care for patients with this critical intervention. However, they seemed to lack the needed knowledge for the appropriate care. Developing, implementing and continuous monitoring of guidelines regarding chest drain care for nurses and physicians are recommended.