An integrative review of postanesthesia care unit phase I patient outcome research: 1982 to 1993.

Specialty nursing practice tends to define itself by a set of competencies believed to be essential by the practitioner. A specialty practice rarely is the result of patient outcome research. Although nurses have been caring for postoperative patients since the early 1900s, a review of published PACU phase I patient outcome nursing research has not been reported. As part of a larger study, an integrative review of phase I postanesthesia research was conducted to investigate compliance with the scientific method and to examine whether reported research findings link the nursing process with patient outcome. Data were collected from identified PACU phase I research studies published between 1982 and 1993. The table of contents from 16 nursing journals were examined to identify published studies. The sample for the integrative review consisted of 43 studies meeting inclusion criteria. Data from the 43 studies were collected independently by two researchers on Post Anesthesia Research Literature Instrument coding sheets developed for the review. Findings indicated that the scientific method was used with varied levels of sophistication. The linkage of nursing process with patient outcome did not appear explicit in the studies reviewed.