Intensive Care Nurses' Practices on Intrahospital Patient Transfer Safety and Associated Factors: A Multicentre Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Intrahospital patient transfer, which is of vital importance for patients, is the responsibility of nurses. Intrahospital transfers (IHT) are a situation that threatens patient safety and is considered high risk in terms of complications. Aim: This study aims to evaluate the practices of nurses working in intensive care units regarding patient transfer safety in the hospital and to examine whether these practices vary according to gender, education level, age, years of experience in the profession and institution and marital status. Study Design: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with nurses working in intensive care units of three different hospitals located in the southeast of Turkey. The study was conducted between 1 May and 30 September 2023 with nurses who met the inclusion criteria. Data were collected with the Nurse Identification Form and the Intrahospital Transfer Safety Scale. All analyses were considered significant at the 95% confidence interval and p < 0.05 level. Results: This study was completed with n = 158 nurses working in intensive care clinics. It was determined that 74.7% of the nurses working in intensive care clinics were female, 62.7% were 25 years old and above, 60.8% were single and 48.7% had a bachelor's degree or higher. The total score that the nurses received from the IHT safety scale was 92.81 ± 16.71. The scores obtained from the scale sub-dimensions were Organisation 25.90 ± 6.03, Tools and Technology 15.67 ± 2.97, Environment 19.34 ± 3.55 and Teamwork 36.05 ± 6.43 points, respectively. It was concluded that there was a significant difference between the groups in terms of gender (t = 2.920, p = 0.004, CI = 2.82, 14.62) and education level (F = 18.98; p = 0.001, CI = 81.85, 89.05). Female nurses are more successful in evaluating IHT safety. However, increasing the education level of nurses decreases the success in evaluating IHT safety. Conclusion: This study revealed that the intrahospital patient transfer safety practices of nurses working in intensive care units are positively affected by demographic factors such as gender, marital status and level of education. In line with these findings, training programmes should be organised to increase the knowledge and skills of nurses on patient transfer safety, and safety protocols for patient transfer processes should be developed and compliance with these protocols should be encouraged. More research should be conducted in this area to determine other factors affecting patient transfer safety, and feedback mechanisms should be created where nurses can express the difficulties they encounter. Implementation of these recommendations will improve nurses' patient transfer safety practices and thus increase patient safety. Relevance to Clinical Practice: The results of the study are important to understand the effects of certain demographic factors (gender, age, education level, years of working in the profession and institution, marital status, etc.). In clinical practice, it should be aimed for intensive care nurses to undertake the necessary roles and responsibilities for IHT with adequate training. These results can be used to guide policy development and education strategies.