Relationship Between ICU Nurses’ Working Shifts and the Time of Endotracheal Extubation After Cardiac Surgery

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between nurses’ work shifts in the intensive care unit (ICU) and the time of endotracheal extubation after cardiac surgery.Methods: The present study enrolled 210 patients that underwent cardiac surgery in a university referral cardiovascular center in 2018. Samples were selected via the convenience sampling method from adult patients that underwent elective cardiac surgery. The study samples were divided into 3 groups based on their admission time in the ICU: before 2 pm (morning shift), between 2 and 7 pm (evening shift), and after 7 pm (night shift). The patients’ demographic characteristics, risk factors, and intraoperative and postoperative clinical variables were collected. Information regarding the time of admission into the ICU, the time of readiness for extubation, and the actual time of extubation was recorded. Finally, these times were compared between the patients admitted into ICU in the 3 abovementioned work shifts.Results: The study population was comprised of 210 patients, 142 (67.6%) male and 68 (32.4%) female, at an average age of 55 years old (44–63). According to the findings, tracheal extubation was usually performed in the work shift after the patients’ admission time. There was a significant difference between the time of readiness for extubation and the actual time of tracheal tube removal on the different shifts, with the time being about 1 hour longer on the night shift than on the evening or morning shift (P < 0.05).Conclusions: Our cardiac surgery patients who were admitted into the ICU on the morning and evening shifts were ready for extubation earlier than those admitted on the night shift. (Iranian Heart Journal 2020; 21(2): 34-40)