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Association of End-Tidal Carbon Dioxide Monitoring With Nurses' Confidence in Patient Readiness for Postanesthesia
Purpose:
To determine if end-tidal carbon dioxide (etCO2) value increased nurses' perceptions of confidence in patients' readiness for postanesthesia care unit (PACU) discharge.
Design:
Prospective, cross-sectional, comparative, one-group (pre-post) design.
Methods:
Nurses completed 2 assessments of confidence in readiness for discharge, before and after etCO2 monitoring. Patient (discharge pain level, body mass index, sleep apnea history, and opioid use) and nurse factors were assessed. Analyses included descriptive and comparative statistics.
Findings:
Of 133 patients, mean (standard deviation) etCO2 was 36.1 (5.7) mm Hg. Nurses' confidence in readiness for discharge differed before and after etCO2 assessment. Confidence score decreased when etCO2 was low (P = .003) or high (P = .005), compared with normal values. In linear regression, etCO2 remained a factor in nurses' confidence in readiness for discharge (P < .001).
Conclusions:
In a PACU, etCO2 monitoring changed nurses' perceptions of confidence in patients' readiness for discharge.