Cuff pressure control in intensive care unit: training effects.

Objectives: Direct cuff pressure to the tracheal wall can cause damage. This paper aimed to verify the effectiveness of nursing team training on cuff pressure control.

Methods: A retrospective survey was initially made on the records of cuff pressure measurements from January 2007 to June 2008 and the inadequacy percent was verified. Next, a nursing team training program was provided involving all nursing shift teams during June 2008, and after the training the appropriate cuff pressures proportion was prospectively recorded between June and December 2008. The proportion of inappropriate cuff pressure was compared between the work shifts (morning, afternoon and evening-night) and between pre- and post-training, using the qualitative Chi-square test. The 5% limit (p<0.05) was considered for significant differences.

Results: For the pre-training period, inappropriate cuff pressure measures (over 30cmH2O) during morning, afternoon and evening-night shifts were 9.2%, 11.9% and 13.7%, respectively. For the post-training phase, 7.6%, 4.1% and 5.2% inappropriate cuff-pressures were identified for the morning, afternoon and evening-night shifts, respectively, with a significant reduction for the afternoon and evening-night shifts, respectively (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Nursing team training was effective for inadequate cuff pressure harms awareness improvement, and resulted in safer pressure levels.