M.Cur / According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s(CDC) National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System of 1996, Pseudomonas aeruginosa(P. aeruginosa) can be rated as the number two cause of nosocomial pneumonia(Chen & Rudoy,2006). Nosocomial pneumonia increases hospital cost and morbidity and mortality in patients. Most of the patients in the critical care unit are immune compromised because of underlying illnesses. Antibiotics eliminates the patient’s normal flora which causes opportunity for pathogens to colonise. Indwelling procedures like endotracheal intubation cause a point of entrance for pathogens like P.aeruginosa. The endotracheal tube bypasses the normal physiological processes and inhibits the cough reflex. It is the nurse’s responsibility to remove secretion through endotracheal suctioning. During the past ten years the closed suction method was increasingly implemented to remove secretions because studies showed closed suction caused less infection than open suction. In a spesific critical care unit in a private hospital in Pretoria the nurses are of the opinion that closed suctioning does not effectively remove secretion. Patients are therefore suctioned open which can cause air contamination because the colonised ventilator circuit is opened. The following question can be asked in view of the above arguments and problem statement: Is there a difference in aircontamintion between open and closed suctioning? The aim of the study is to determine whether any difference in air contamination exists between open and closed suctioning in a spesific critical care unit in Pretoria. v A comparitive contextual design with crossover methods was used. Patients are allocated to group 1 or group 2 through random sampling. An air exstractor is used to take airsamples before, during and after suctioning. There was no significant difference in terms of air contamination for open and closed suction. This is probably because of too small a sample. The null hypothesis is accepted and that is there is no significant difference in air contamination between open and closed suction.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:8283 |
| Date | 31 March 2009 |
| Creators | Fourie, Eileen |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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