Practice and associated factors of Glasgow Coma Scale assessment among nurses working in adult intensive care units of federally administered hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The Glasgow Coma Scale is a helpful instrument for measuring patients’ level of consciousness with neurosurgical disorders. Literature showed a majority of nurses don’t believe the Glasgow Coma Scale assessment is their area of practice. This study aimed to examine the Glasgow Coma Scale assessment practice and associated factors among nurses working in adult intensive care units of federally administered hospitals.

Institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted on conventionally selected 126 nurses working in adult intensive care units. Six clinical scenarios were used to assess practice, and those who correctly answered at least four scenario questions out of 6 practical scenario questions for the Glasgow Coma Scale assessment were considered good practice. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The Chi-square test was applied to examine the variables affecting Glasgow Coma Scale practice. Furthermore, the proportions of categorical variables’ replies were contrasted among the various groups.

With a response rate of 96.03%, 121 nurses participated in the study. (53.7%) was males. In this study, the overall good Glasgow Coma Scale assessment practice of intensive care units nurses was 47.1%. Lack of training (77.7%), job overload (73.6%), and insufficient knowledge and skills (61.2 %) are barriers for nurses to assess Glasgow Coma Scale.

In this, only nearly half of the participants displayed good practice on the Glasgow Coma Scale. Sex and educational status were both found to be significant factors in nurses’ Glasgow Coma Scale assessment practice.