Measuring Nurse Satisfaction with the Chest Pain Protocol

Abstract

<p>Approximately 380,000 lives are claimed annually from coronary heart disease. Early identification and prompt action is crucial to preventing mortality. Nurses are the frontline defense to rapidly assessing and intervening to prevent further cardiac damage and alleviate chest pain symptoms. A local community hospital implemented a chest pain protocol for nurses to utilize on the Medical-Surgical units. The chest pain protocol outlines the use of specific medications, including Nitroglycerin sublingually and Morphine intravenously, as well as obtaining an EKG and notifying the provider. The purpose of this project was to measure satisfaction among registered nurses on medical-surgical units at a local community hospital, as it related to the chest pain protocol. A ten-question survey was developed by this author to determine the level of satisfaction among nurses using the newly implemented chest pain protocol. Fifty RNs were surveyed from eight different Medical-Surgical units throughout Kent Hospital. The surveys were deployed approximately 120 days’ post protocol initiation. The surveys were available for completion for one week. Results revealed nurses were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the chest pain protocol. Nurses responded favorably that regular feedback regarding the chest pain protocol would have been beneficial to its overall success. Implications for practice were presented and recommendations for future research were identified and included modifying this protocol to be nurse driven and providing further education for nurses at the bedside.</p>