Knowledge, attitudes and practices of ICU nurses regarding subsyndromal delirium among 20 hospitals in China: a descriptive cross-sectional survey

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to investigate nurses’ knowledge, attitudes and practices, and analyse the influencing factors for subsyndromal delirium (SSD). DESIGN: A descriptive cross-sectional survey. SETTING: E-questionnaires were distributed to intensive care unit (ICU) nurses from 20 tertiary-grade, A-class hospitals in Henan Province, China. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 740 ICU nurses participated in the questionnaire survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Each dimension score is converted to a percentage scale. A score of ≤60% on each dimension of the questionnaire was considered a negative score, <80% was considered a intermediate score and ≥80% was considered an excellent score. RESULTS: A total of 733 questionnaires were included in the study. More than half of the nurses were at the intermediate level, and a few nurses were at the excellent level. Nurses self-assessed their level of knowledge was intermediate. In the attitudes dimension, nurses’ attitudes were negative. The results of the practical dimension showed that most nurses could carry out the clinical practice. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that educational level and received SSD training were influencing factors. CONCLUSIONS: ICU nursing staff overestimated their knowledge of SSD and showed a negative attitude towards it. Various forms of education and training are necessary.