Efetividade do programa educativo no conhecimento de profissionais de enfermagem sobre a higiene bucal em pacientes críticos intubados

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the educational program on the knowledge of nursing professionals on oral hygiene in critically ill intubated patients. This case study is a semi-experimental study performed in a large hospital in Belo Horizonte (MG), Brazil, from March to July 2018. 79 nursing professionals were considered in three study stages: pre-test, educational program and post-test. Sample characterization instruments and means to evaluate the knowledge of the nursing team regarding the oral hygiene in critically ill intubated patients were developed. The nursing team knowledge evaluation was performed by a questionnaire with 20 true or false sentences concerning the subject in study; this questionnaire was submitted to a committee composed by specialist and was content validated. Descriptive analysis and Wilcoxon, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal Wallis and Spearman correlation tests were also performed. The sample consisted predominantly of nurses (54.4%), female (86.1%),well distributed between the day and night shifts (49.4% and 50.6%).The training time of the professionals ranged from 7 to 240 months, with a median of 96 months (p25 = 60;p75 = 120), the time spent in the Intensive Care Center (ICU) ranged from 1 to 156 months, with median 29 months (p25 = 9; p75 = 72). Most of the professionals (78.5%) have received some oral hygiene instruction during the training. At the institution, 41.8% have never received training on the subject. Regarding the evaluation of professionals' knowledge, in the pre-test the median was 15 points (p25=13; p75=16) and, in the post-test, the median was 19 points (p25=17; p75=20). There was a significant statistical difference on both moments, with the increase in the knowledge concerning the professionals of the nursing team after the educational program (p <0.001).There was also a significant statistical difference between the pretest and the professional's knowledge regarding the oral hygiene protocol in the institution(P <0.05), that is, professionals who knew about the existence of the protocol in the institution achieved a higher knowledge score (r = -0.258, p <0.05). A negative correlation was found between the post-test and the training time of the professionals. It was concluded that the educational program based on active methodologies, aimed at a meaningful learning, had a positive effect on nursing professionals' knowledge concerning the oral hygiene in critically ill intubated patients, and this effect is lower in professionals who had a longer training periods. It reinforces the importance of permanent education with effective educational programs which aims to improve the knowledge of the nursing team in order to enhance the quality of health care.