Objective: To determine the effect of nursing guide application developed for the present study and to evaluate the Early Warning Scoring System (EWSS) in post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU).
Methods: The study was carried out as a randomised-controlled experimental study. The study sample comprised of 123 adult patients having thoracic and abdominal surgery between January 2011 and April 2011 in the Anaesthesiology and Reanimation Department of a training and research hospital. Patients were randomised during the pre-operative period; the patients who were followed-up according to the EWSS and a nursing guide constituted the study group (SG=63) and the patients whose EWSS score was calculated but routine follow-up in PACU was not intervened constituted the control group (CG=60).
Results: During the PACU, complications developed in in 34.92% of SG patients and in 30.00% of CG patients. Of the SG patients, 95.45% developing complications and of the CG patients, 22.22% developing complications were treated in the first 10 minutes, and it was determined that in 61.12% of CG patients, complications were not treated. There was a significant difference between the SG and CG patients in terms of treatment duration against complications (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The EWSS and nurse's guide provides early determination and treatment of patients developing complications. Thus, it is recommended to use the EWSS and a nursing guide in PACU.
Keywords: Early warning scoring system; high-risk patients; nurse’s guide; nursing interventions; post-anaesthesia care.