title: [A project to reduce the incidence of intubation care errors among foreign health aides].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Foreign health aides are the main providers of care for the elderly and the physically disabled in Taiwan. Correct care skills improve patient safety. In 2010, the incidence of mistakes among foreign health aides in our hospital unit was 58% for nasogastric tube care and 57% for tracheostomy tube care. A survey of foreign health aides and nurses in the unit identified the main causes of these mistakes as: communication difficulties, inaccurate instructions given to patients, and a lack of standard operating procedures given to the foreign health aides.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This project was designed to reduce the rates of improper nasogastric tube care and improper tracheostomy tube care to 20%, respectively.
  
  
  METHODS
  This project implemented several appropriate measures. We produced patient instruction hand-outs in Bahasa Indonesia, established a dedicated file holder for Bahasa Indonesian tube care reference information, produced Bahasa Indonesian tube-care-related posters, produced a short film about tube care in Bahasa Indonesian, and established a standardized operating procedure for tube care in our unit.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Between December 15th and 31st, 2011, we audited the performance of a total of 32 foreign health aides for proper execution of nasogastric tube care (21 aides) and of proper execution of tracheostomy tube care (11 aides). Patients with concurrent nasogastric and tracheostomy tubes were inspected separately for each care group. The incidence of improper care decreased from 58% to 18% nasogastric intubation and 57% to 18% for tracheostomy intubation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This project decreased significantly the incidence of improper tube care by the foreign health aides in our unit. Furthermore, the foreign health aides improved their tube nursing care skills. Therefore, this project improved the quality of patient care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Mei-Ju
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital Chung Shing Branch, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Yu-Hua
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital Chung Shing Branch, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Chiu-Chun
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taiwan, ROC. csha481@csh.org.tw.
authors.forename: Ai-Cheng
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: foreign health aides; nasogastric tube; tracheostomy; tube care