Is the care performance of critical care unit nurses in angina management consistent with evidence-based guidelines? An observational study

Objective Pain management is an integral part of nursing practice. In this respect, angina management can be a serious clinical problem for nurses. The evaluation of pain management based on guidelines is one of the essential components in quality assurance and improvement processes. One of the most necessary steps in this process to improve pain management is to analyze the existing situation. This study aimed to determine the compliance of critical care unit (CCU) nurses’ care performance in angina management with evidence-based guidelines (EBGs). Methods In this observational cross-sectional study, 69 nurses working in the CCU departments of public hospitals in Bushehr province participated using the full number method, and their performance was observed 207 times. The data collection tool in this study included a demographic profile form and a 29-item checklist of nurses’ performance in angina management. The performance of each nurse was evaluated three times in three different shifts. Descriptive and analytical independent t -tests and Spearman and Pearson correlation were used to analyze the data. SPSS 19 software was used to perform statistical tests. The significance level was considered to be <0.05 in all cases. Results The findings showed that 85.5% of the participants were female and 14.5% were male, with an average age of 33.87 ± 7.14 years. The average score for performing care functions according to the evidence-based pain management guidelines was 71.42 ± 19.31. The highest (73.60 ± 19.45) and lowest (63.51 ± 28.27) average scores were related to the investigation and evaluation area, respectively. The results showed a significant negative correlation between age and care performance ( p < 0.03; r = -0.265). Conclusions The results of this study showed that the average performance score of nurses in angina management based on the guidelines was higher than average. Considering that some items had little compliance, the health system planners are recommended to put the annual training methods to obtain and use the latest guidelines for pain management, especially angina, in the education program of nurses.