The Importance and Application of Clinical Surveillance by Nurses, working Teaching Hospitals, in Acute Care Conditions, Tabriz, 2012

Abstract

Abstract: Introduction: clinical surveillance is one of the main nursing activities raising nurses' perception, recognition and skills and empowering them in their profession. Despite of the importance of surveillance in nursing, it has not widely studied. This paper, thus, aims to study the importance and application of clinical supervision by nurses in acute conditions. Research Methodology: with a randomly selected sample of 242 nurses working for Tabriz educational therapy centers, this is a descriptive research study examining nurses' views in this regard. Accordingly, the surveillance performance questionnaire, developed by Bulechek, Butcher, and Dochterman, was employed. The questionnaire consists of two parts each containing 39 items that are ranked on theLikert scale. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Mann-Whithney and Kruskal Wallis Tests. Findings: From this perspective, applying clinical surveillance by study nurses was ranked on 3 levels ranging from weak (39-91), median (92-145), and optimum (146-195). According to findings, nurses view clinical surveillance highly important in acute conditions (mean 163.63±16.36). Examining the link between personal-social characteristics from nurses' perception of the importance of clinical surveillance, Kruskal Wallis test found a significant association between nurses' perception and the type of hospital (p< 0.001). As to the application of surveillance by nurses, participants' mean scores (152.15±22.62) were found to be in optimum and acceptable level. Conclusion: results showed that nurses had a positive perception of the importance of clinical surveillance. As controlling vital signs and examining the risky patients, in terms of bleeding, are among critical measures required to be carried out by nurses, nursing authorities should more consider it in clinical functions. Training courses in this area are, therefore, recommended since they will be followed by application. Hence, it is necessary for authorities to hold such training courses