Critical Care Nurses’s Knowledge and Attitude Towards Sleep Promoting Interventions Among Critically Ill Patients in Intensive Care Unit

@#Introduction: Sleep promotion in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) should be a priority because interruptions may prevent patients from getting enough sleep. Inadequate sleep might lead to delirium, anxiety, increased hospital stays, and higher mortalities. Critical care nurses with good knowledge and attitude towards sleep promotion interventions benefit critically ill patients’ quality of care and life. Critical illness, pain, mechanical ventilation, surroundings, and nurses’ activity at night contribute to sleep disturbances in ICU patients. The aim of this study was to determine critical care nurses’ knowledge regarding the physiology of sleep, interventions to promote sleep,attitude towards sleep, and sleep promotion. Methods: A cross-sectional study with a self-administered questionnaire and purposive sampling method was conducted among 109 critical care nurses at the ICU of a teaching hospital. Results: The mean score knowledge of critical care nurses was 4.72 (± 1.92), attitude towards sleep was 18.57 (± 3.56), and intervention towards sleep promotion was 70.00 (± 12.00). A significant correlation was observed between knowledge and attitude (p < 0.05, r = 0.22) and between attitude and intervention (p < 0.05, r = 0.32), indicating a modest correlation. Moreover, a significant association was noted between years of experience and attitude and intervention (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Critical care nurses’ knowledge, attitudes, and interventions were poor; hence, they need to improve their knowledge, attitude, and interventions. The significance of sleep promotion and factors leading to critical care nurses in Malaysia not promoting sleep among ICU patients needs to be rectified.

Relationships between Sedation Knowledge and Nurse Practice Competences in Intensive Care Unit / 임상간호연구

PURPOSE: For this study an examination was done of relationships between intensive care unit (ICU) nurses' knowledge related to sedation and their clinical competencies in sedation practice. METHODS: Ninety one ICU nurses were recruited from two tertiary hospitals in South Korea. A self-report questionnaire was used to examine the levels of knowledge related to sedation and nursing practice competence based on Ajzen's theory of planned behavior. Descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson correlations were performed using the IBM SPSS 21.0 RESULTS: ICU nurses are more knowledgeable about general information on sedation rather than up-to-date information. Continuing education on sedation was related to difference in knowledge levels. However, the levels of knowledge were not related to competence in sedation practice. Instead, a positive attitude toward sedation practice was significantly related to the subjective norms; orders and goals, perceived behavioral control, practice of sedation, and intention to use. CONCLUSION: The results of this study provide fundamental information on levels of knowledge related to sedation practices of Korean ICU nurses. Continuing education should emphasize up-to-date information on sedation practice and need for positive attitudes which influence all other competencies towards sedation practices to achieve optical care of sedation in the ICU.

Critical Care Nurses' Perception of Life-sustaining Treatment at End of Life: A Content Analysis / 중환자간호학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe what critical care nurses perceived about life-sustaining treatment at end of life.METHODS: A qualitative content analysis method was utilized. The unit of analysis was interview text obtained from fifty critical care nurses of a general hospital.RESULTS: Seven categories in two content areas were abstracted. In the negative perception area, the following five categories were abstracted: patients' suffering, dying with damaged dignity, patients' isolation from family members, regret about choosing life-sustaining treatment, and family members' burden. In the positive perception area, the following two categories were abstracted: willingness to sustain life and duty as family members.CONCLUSIONS: Nurses have better competencies pertaining to understanding patients' responses and suffering than any other health care professions do. Nurses should play an important role in advocating for patients and their family in the process of end-of-life care decision making.

Critical care nurses' attitude towards life-sustaining treatments in South East Iran / 世界急诊医学杂志（英文）

@#BACKGROUND:Life-sustaining treatments (LSTs) may prolong life but greatly decrease the quality of death. One factor influencing decision-making about withholding and withdrawing these treatments is the attitude of nurses. This study aimed to evaluate the attitude of critical care nurses towards life-sustaining treatments in South East Iran. METHODS:In this cross-sectional study, "Ethnicity and Attitudes towards Advance Care Directives Questionnaire" was used to investigate the attitude of 104 critical care nurses towards life-sustaining treatments in three hospitals affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences. RESULTS:The findings of this study indicated that although a majority of critical care nurses (77％) did not have personal desire for use of LSTs including CPR and mechanical ventilation, they had moderately negative to neutral attitude towards general use of LSTs (2.95 of 5). CONCLUSIONS:These findings suggest that nurses' attitude towards LSTs can be changed by inclusion of specific courses about death, palliative care and life-sustaining treatments in undergraduate and postgraduate nursing curricula. Educating Muslim nurses about religious aspects of LSTs may also improve their attitudes.