A prospective audit on the current practice of patient care in adult surgical intensive care unit

Background: It is proven that the use of a multidisciplinary checklist during rounds in intensive care units improves patient outcome and process of care. However, there is no multidisciplinary checklist in our hospital’s surgical intensive care unit. The level of practice on daily patient care in surgical ICU remains unexplored. The objective is to determine the daily practice of patient care in surgical ICU. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted in surgical ICU. A checklist was used to assess the daily patient care. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 22 and presented using descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 65 patients were assessed during the study period. The result showed that the level of daily intensive care unit (ICU) practice was high (≥90%) in the following areas such as daily nutritional supplementation, daily fluid balance, pain management, mechanical ventilation, antibiotic prophylaxis, and patient monitoring. Additionally, the daily ICU care was acceptable (80–89%) in the areas of sedation and thromboembolism prophylaxis. However, the daily ICU care was low (60–79%) for blood glucose level monitoring, oral/mouth care, and wound care. The ICU care was poor (50–60%) for daily consideration of nausea and vomiting prophylaxis. The ICU care was very poor (<50%) for central venous catheterization, chest physiotherapy, and possible removal of foley catheters. Conclusion: The practice level was low in large areas of daily patient care. It is recommended that a local multidisciplinary checklist be developed for patient care. Additionally, training should be given for the ICU staff about patient care and checklist.