Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar;10(3):1601-1610.
doi: 10.1002/nop2.1412. Epub 2022 Oct 27.

Outcomes of family-centred auditory and tactile stimulation implementation on traumatic brain injured patients

Affiliations

Outcomes of family-centred auditory and tactile stimulation implementation on traumatic brain injured patients

Fatma Refaat Ahmed et al. Nurs Open. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

Aim: To determine the outcomes of Family-centred Auditory and Tactile Stimulation Implementation on Traumatic Brain Injured Patients in Egypt.

Background: Family engagement in the care of their relatives in the Intensive care units is limited due to patients' life-threatening conditions, in addition to the use of high technology in these settings. Auditory and tactile sensory stimulations are among the diverse sensory stimulations that have received more attention in brain injured patients than other senses as being considered safe, and effective measures.

Design: A Quasi-experimental design was used to test the hypotheses of this study.

Methods: A convenience sample of 60 adult patients suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury and admitted to the intensive care units of two University Hospitals in Egypt was included in the study. Patients were assigned into two equal groups: control and study groups (30 patients each). The auditory and tactile stimulations were provided by trained family members, once daily for 2 weeks for the study group. Whereas routine communication was provided by the family of traumatic brain injured patients in the ICU for the control group. Two tools were used for data collection; tool one, the "Glasgow Coma Scale" to assess patient's level of consciousness, and tool two the "Physiological Adverse Events Assessment" to monitor patients for the occurrence of physiological adverse events.

Data collection: January to October 2019.

Results: The implementation of an organized auditory and tactile stimulation by trained family members is associated with highly statistically significant positive effects . Patients in the study group showed a higher mean of consciousness, lower incidence rate of physiological adverse events, and a lower mean duration of ICU stay.

Conclusions: Implementation of an organized auditory and tactile stimulation by trained family members enhanced the consciousness level of comatose Traumatic Brain Injured patients, decreased the occurrence of physiological adverse events, and ICU length of stay. Thus, it is recommended for use in the daily routine nursing care of comatose Traumatic Brain Injured patients.

Relevance to clinical practice: This study gives a deeper understanding of how family engagement in the care of their critically ill relative enhances their recovery and improve their level of consciousness.

Keywords: Egypt; auditory stimulation; family-centred care; outcomes; tactile stimulation; traumatic brain injury.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Sampling flowchart
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Change of GCS mean scores over the study period in the two groups
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Level of consciousness recovery in patients following TBI in the two groups

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Abbasi, M. , Mohammadi, E. , & Sheaykh Rezayi, A. (2009). Effect of a regular family visiting program as an affective, auditory, and tactile stimulation on the consciousness level of comatose patients with a head injury. Japan Journal of Nursing Science, 6(1), 21–26. - PubMed
    1. Burns, K. E. A. , Misak, C. , Herridge, M. , Meade, M. O. , & Oczkowski, S. (2018). Patient and family engagement in the ICU. Untapped opportunities and underrecognized challenges. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 198(3), 310–319. - PubMed
    1. Cheng, L. , Cortese, D. , Monti, M. M. , Wang, F. , Riganello, F. , Arcuri, F. , di, H. , & Schnakers, C. (2018). Do sensory stimulation programs have an impact on consciousness recovery? Frontiers in Neurology, 9, 826. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Eltaybani, S. , Abdelwareth, M. , Abou‐Zeid, N. A. , & Ahmed, N. (2020). Recommendations to prevent nursing errors: Content analysis of semi‐structured interviews with intensive care unit nurses in a developing country. Journal of Nursing Management, 28(3), 690–698. - PubMed
    1. Jafari, M. , & Ansari‐Pour, N. (2019). Why, when and how to adjust your P values? Cell Journal, 20(4), 604–607. - PMC - PubMed