Preoperative Patient Assessment Practices: A Survey of Kenyan Perioperative Nurses

Background: Patients undergoing surgery are at risk of developing complications related to surgery and anesthesia amidst heightened anxiety. The key roles played by perioperative nurses in surgery, mandate them to conduct preoperative patient assessment to identify and mitigate potential complications and to plan and deliver quality perioperative care. However, paucity of literature evidencing the practice is very low. Objective of this survey was to evaluate the assessment practices among Kenyan perioperative nurses. Design: A countrywide cross section descriptive survey. Results: Seventy two Kenyan perioperative nurses among conference attendees consented and participated in the survey. Allthe participants were registered nurses out of who only 13(18.1%) had trained in perioperative nursing specialty at diploma level. Out of the 13 trained, only 3(4.2%) had Bachelor of Science degree in nursing. Although preoperative patient assessment was reported to be practiced 58 (80.5%) it was apparent that the practice varied with individuals and institutions. Regarding the details of the assessment, general condition of patients, physical, physiological and psychological aspects come out strongly but not the emotional, spiritual and cultural aspects of the patients. Verbal and written reports were reported to be the main modalities of disseminating assessment feed backs to other nurses especially during shift handing over reports. Although preoperative assessment was undoubtedly reported to be beneficial in improving patients’ care 42(58.3%) however, only 2 (2.8%) indicated its use in planning patients’ care. Conclusion: In spite the findings, some glaring gaps likely to impact on quality of nursing care do exist in the preoperative assessment practices by perioperative nurses in Kenya.