The Burden Of Diarrhea: A Survey Of The Caregivers’ Opinions And Perceptions Of Workload In The Intensive Care Unit

University of New England, Portland Campus, Innovation Hall

In the literature, the prevalence of diarrhea in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) has been reported to be 3.3-78%. The problem is significant to patients and also increases workload burden for ICU staff. Unfortunately, research on this topic is very limited; we found one single study on the impact that diarrhea has on nursing staff workload. Therefore, we conducted a retrospective chart review to describe the prevalence and impact of diarrhea in our organization. For the purposes of this study, we equated diarrhea with type 7 stools as defined in the Bristol Stool Form Scale. In January of 2018, we developed a bowel management guideline and rolled out the associated protocol in a multifaceted implementation process which included a variety of educational strategies. Toward promoting the use of the tool in practice, we sought to assess staff perceptions of the resources and time needed to manage diarrhea and bowel function with a survey that was administered to ICU staff in a 600 bed, level one trauma center. The purpose of this poster is to describe the findings from a survey to assess perceptions of workload after the implementation of the new bowel management guidelines.