Abstract

The patients at ICU should be monitored continuosly by nurses to find out the abnormal symptoms. Objectives: - Evaluate the effectiveness of continuous monitoring by nurses to abnormal symptoms of patient detected within 48 hours after the patient admitted to ICU. - Explore the relation between the abnormal symptoms with causes, the time of disease detection and the patient's status at admission. Methods: 110 patients at ICU - Hue Cental Hospital, in May and June, 2012. Prospective study design. Nurses monitored patients continuously within the first 48 hours after admission, found the abnormal symptoms listed in protocol. Results: The nurses found a high percentage (85 patients, 77,3%) of patients who had abnormalities in the first 48 hours. Breathing disorders, increase in body temperature, increase in difficult breathing, low blood pressure are the most common abnormalities. -There is relation between the detection of abnormalities in patients with: the time of detection (58,4%) and the Glasgow Coma Scale at admission (p<0,05) Conclusion: Nurses have important role in monitoring patients in ICU to detect abnormalities in the first 48 hours