title: Clinical indicators of ineffective airway clearance for patients in the cardiac postoperative period.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The accuracy of an indicator determines the direct relationship between a defining characteristic and the presence or absence of a specific nursing diagnosis.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To analyse the accuracy of the clinical indicators of ineffective airway clearance in patients during the postoperative period of cardiac surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 98 patients recruited from a postoperative unit were included in the study. An analysis of sensitivity, specificity, predictive value, likelihood ratio, diagnostic odds ratio, accuracy, and area under the ROC curve was used to determine the accuracy of these clinical indicators.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four clinical indicators showed the highest levels of accuracy by statistical measure: dyspnoea, adventitious breath sounds, ineffective cough, and retained secretions. The indicators retained secretions and ineffective cough showed high diagnostic odds ratios (62.8 and 28.1, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that there are differences between the ineffective airway clearance indicators as accuracy measures.
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Ceará, Ceará, Brazil.
authors.forename: Vanessa Emille Carvalho
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: de Sousa
authors.forename: Marcos Venícios
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: de Oliveira Lopes
authors.forename: Thelma Leite
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: de Araujo
authors.forename: Isaura Letícia Tavares Palmeira
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Rolim
authors.forename: Ranielly Vidal
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: do Nascimento
authors.forename: Talita Ferreira
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Oliveira
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000451:nursing; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000451:nursing; D011184:Postoperative Period; D012372:ROC Curve; D012119:Respiration