Objective:

To determine the effect of a nursing guideline application developed for this study and followed according to the Early Warning Scoring System (EWSS) in a post-anaesthesia recovery unit.

Methods:

This study was carried out as a randomized-controlled experimental study. The study sample comprised 123 adult patients having thoracic and abdominal surgery in a training and research hospital’s Anaesthesiology and Reanimation Department. Patients were randomized during the pre-operative period and followed up according to EWSS and a nursing guideline study group (SG=63). Patients whose recovery unit routine follow-up was calculated in terms of EWSS score but not intervened formed the control group (CG=60).

Results:

It was determined in the recovery period that complications developed in 34.92% of SG patients and 30.00% of CG patients. 95.45% of SG patients developing complication and 22.22% of CG patients developing complications were treated in the first 10 minutes, and it was determined that 61.12% of CG patients developing complications were not treated. The difference between the patients within the study and control groups in terms of treatment duration against complications was found to be statistically meaningful (p<0.05).

Conclusion:

Using EWSS and a nursing guideline enables determining complication development in patients earlier and leads to treating the patients sooner. On the basis of these results, it was recommended to use EWSS and nursing guidelines in the post-anaesthesia recovery unit.

Keywords: Early warning scoring system, post anaesthesia care, nursing guideline, nursing interventions, high-risk patients