Background: Communication impairment occurs in mechanically ventilated
patients Absence of efficient communication causes anxiety, fear and insecurity
for patients post open heart surgeries. Aim: Evaluate the effect of using
communication board on clinical outcomes for mechanically ventilated patients
post open heart surgeries. Design: A quasi- experimental research design.
Setting: conducted at Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Tanta International
Teaching Hospital. Subjects: A Purposive sample of 60 adult mechanically
ventilated patients underwent open heart surgeries were selected from the
previously mentioned setting. Tools: two tools were used in the process. Tool (I):
open heart surgery patients' assessment tool. Tool (II): clinical outcomes
assessment ttool. Result: revealed that 13.33% of the study group compared to
(50%) of the control group suffered from severe pain. While (6.67%) of study
group compared to (30.00%) of the control group had respiratory distress.
Additionally, (73.33%) of the study group compared to (20.00%) of the control
group were satisfied with using communication board. significant differences
were found between the two groups regarding pain level, respiratory distress level,
and satisfaction. Conclusion: communication board is a cost effective nursing
strategy which helped in improving clinical outcomes for patients open heart
surgeries. Recommendation: Replication of the study on a larger sample size and
with long term follow up can validate and help generalize the results.