Stop-Bang Tool for Sleep Apnea and Related Self-Efficacy

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a health issue that can cause many complications perioperatively if it is left undiagnosed or unidentified in the pre-operative assessment. The staff of the post-operative anesthesia care unit (PACU) at one of the hospitals in Missouri was managing the complications from the unidentified patients with OSA on an everyday basis. The problems associated with the complications included extended recovery room stay and an unexpected need to transfer the patients to a monitored bed. This DNP project aimed to assess the self-efficacy in the nurses after the education and implementation of the STOP-Bang tool to screen patients for OSA. The objectives of the project: To complete a pre-education self-efficacy survey utilizing the Evidence-Based Nursing Practice Self-Efficacy Survey, to educate and provide the resources about the STOP-Bang tool, and to evaluate the self-efficacy after the implementation of the STOP-Bang tool. The Iowa model of evidence-based practice was chosen for this project because the Iowa model guides step by step through the change process. An evidenced-based Self-Efficacy Survey tool was used to collect data. There was a significant increase in self-efficacy in nurses from pre-intervention to post-intervention. The data analysis demonstrated a significant increase in confidence scores from pre to post, t (13) =-5.90, p<0.001.

Keywords: Self efficacy; STOP-bang; Obstructive sleep apnea; Perioperative complications; Lowa model; Pre and post-anesthesia care unit