Comparison of Awareness of Patient Parameters between Two Groups of Caregivers in Intensive Care Unit

The overlap in the scope of duties performed by two core groups of Intensive Care Unit caregivers, the doctors and nurses may lead to gaps in awareness of patient-related parameters among them. Our study tested the hypothesis that there is no difference in the awareness of patient-related parameters between the two study groups (doctors and nurses).

A questionnaire-based study, incorporating various aspects of a patient's medical care was designed. Pro forma for 100 patients was filled by doctors and nurses divided into two groups of 100 each (50 junior residents [JRs] and 50 senior residents [SRs] in the doctors' group). Statistical analysis of categorical data was done by Chi-squared test and interval data by t-test. A subgroup analysis was done for comparison between nurses SRs and JRs as independent groups. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (doctors and nurses) in terms of percentage of correct responses in the questionnaire (P = 0.655). A highly significant difference between the knowledge of SRs and nurses was found with a P = 0.0001. P < 0.0001 was calculated for the SRs versus JRs which was highly significant.

As a group, doctors (SRs and JRs) did not reflect any difference in awareness of patient-related parameters when compared to nurses. However, SRs were more knowledgeable about the patient-related parameters when compared independently with the JRs and the nurses.