Incorporating a Tool to Quantify Agitation Among Patients With Brain Injuries Into Neuroscience Nursing Practice in the Inpatient Setting.

Background: Patients with a brain injury (BI) frequently experience agitation during their initial postinjury hospitalization. Nurses at one hospital struggled to characterize, quantify, and trend the agitation experienced by patients with a BI and sought to incorporate a tool to assist them in their everyday practice.

Methods: Nurses and providers selected the Agitated Behavior Scale (ABS) as the tool they would implement. A multiyear educational project ensued using various teaching strategies, and eventually, a toolkit was created to aid other units and hospitals with implementation of the ABS.

Results: The education project led to neuroscience nurses using the ABS to effectively characterize, quantify, and intervene for agitation among patients with a BI. Furthermore, the neuroscience nurses recommended the expansion of this project to include all hospitalized patients experiencing agitation. They hypothesized that utilizing the ABS for other patients may positively impact patient outcomes and potentially reduce the length of stay for patients exhibiting agitated behaviors.

Conclusion: The ABS is a valuable tool for the management of agitation among patients with BI. The multiyear, tiered implementation of this project utilizing various education strategies was essential for its success. To enculturate change in nursing practice, educators should prepare and implement long-term education strategies.